I Never Needed a Friend
by Helix-Heartstone
Summary: Scarlette Fléau, the elusive girl that Akito's been searching for and when he finds her he can't even comprehend the disaster that will ensue. OCxHaru, give it a chance! :D
1. Chapter I

**Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise, Scarlette Fléau is mone though.**

Chapter I

To Scarlette Fléau, the world was quiet here. A phrase which here means, that there was peace and tranquility as she looked over the city from her high spot in the tree on top of the hill.

Though she knew for a fact the world was anything but quiet, but before she had to go and hand herself over she thought that she might as well enjoy her last moments of freedom watching the sun set over the slowly silencing city. The wind pushed a few strands of her silver and grey hair into her eyes which she slowly moved away. She knew that there was no way to stop what had been coming. Her Grandma had protected her as best as she could. It was not enough. She could see that now, now that her life was about to change forever.

Scarlette watched as the last few rays of sun died down and stepped forward, her hand grasping tightly onto the branches above her.

"Caché aile." She whispered for what felt like the last time and felt the slight pain as small wings sprouted from her back, tiny in size but strong none the less, she let go of the branch and fell down from the tree and from the hill. Her wings let her fall then as they caught the wind they supported her and helped her glide upwards too high for people from the city to see. The humid smell of the clouds and the slight lack of oxygen made her head spin, but she could still see the lone building far from the other end of the city that she was already at and she flew quickly, agreeing to be there by twilight.

Scarlette felt her hair fly far around her head and sighed taking in another deep breath before speeding slowly down to the grounds which the giant mansion lie in wait. Her eyes looked up at it and the massive traditional compound and her eyes cast down as she whispered,

"Peau." Her wings quickly vanished and she took slow steps to the front door. Her eyes felt slightly damp but she couldn't bring herself to cry. Not until she was alone.

"Welcome Fléau-san." A stiff voice said, Scarlette looked up and saw an old woman opening the front door for her. She said nothing but bowed slightly and walked into the mansion, her head bent low to hide her features.

"This way please." The woman curtly said again before leading her down the twisting hallways.

"Akito-sama is waiting for you in here." She said opening the door, showing the room, which had one dimly lit lamp. The man Akito had been kneeling in front of her. Scarlette entered and knelt down also, bowing low. She felt his hand tilt her face up and tried her best not to spit or glare at the dangerous and twisted man in front of her who had dragged her out of her home.

"Ruby eyes and hair like white silk...gifted with flight and water, cursed with fire and hate. The messenger of heaven. How very lovely to meet you." Scarlette kept her eyes straight forward having heard of such thing from her grandmother, who had the curse before her.

"Bonjour Akito-sama." Her grasp on the Japanese language wasn't strong and her thick french accent slipped through. Her voice was soft and high, it reminded Akito of the birds he kept locked up. He smiled at the cruel thought and continued to talk.

"The other zodiac members will be here soon, so lets talk before they get here. How was your flight Scarlette-chan?" He added on a sweet tone at the end tilting his head and a fake smile plastered across his cruel features. She kept her features still and stone like.

"Good, Akito-sama." He smiled placidly again, continuing.

"I'm so very glad you could come, I haven't told the other zodiac members who you are, your my little secret. But you are fully aware of the curse and they will know that. You will be staying with Shigure who live's a good distance from here, but quite near the school. Unless of course you would prefer to stay with me?" Her grip on her knees tightened slightly but she kept her face calm.

"Whatever you think best, Akito-sama." He smiled at her again and was about to say more before there was a soft knock on the door. Akito stood and motioned for Scarlette to do the same.

"Enter." The door shifted open and 13 fearful looking people stepped in. Some raised their head to stare at Scarlette, others kept their head low, out of respect and but what looked more like fear to her.

"Welcome my zodiac, today I called you here because I wish for you to greet a long lost family member, Scarlette Fléau." Some more of the zodiac raised their heads in curiosity and stared at the girl who hid behind her hair.

"Shigure, you have a few spare rooms, so I can't see why you could put up our newest family member." The man he addressed nodded but kept quiet too.

"Miss Fléau knows about the curse so there's no need to be shy around her. She has just agreed to move here from France, and doesn't have a full grasp of our native language, so please try not to use big words." He ended with a laugh and Scarlette's fist tightened.

"Well now, that is all, so you may take you leave, but Shigure and Hatori stay behind I wish to have a talk to you both. Scarlette you may wait outside." Scarlette nodded and bowed before taking her leave like the rest of the zodiac. Four other boys, looking to be the same age as her had also stayed, standing outside the imposing room, none of them saying a word. She waited silently, her eyes keeping to her knee length boots, not wishing to talk to any of them if they were anything like Akito. After a few minutes both Hatori and Shigure emerged and Hatori turned his eye to Scarlette and pulled her large bag off her shoulder and took it with him, as an indication to follow she left with them, as they all piled into Hatori's large car.

The drive was silent none of them not knowing what to say to the young girl as she stared out of the window and thought, not wanting to converse with any of them either. After 20 minutes the car pulled up a drive and Scarlette hurriedly opened the door and grabbed her bag and hoisted it up on her shoulder quickly making for the main road. Deciding to get out now, she could hide.

"Leaving so soon?" Shigure asked her, she stopped and turned to him.

"If you don't want to be here, you can leave but you have nowhere to go, France is a very long way to walk. Akito has men placed everywhere, the police see you and they'll know its you and bring you straight back. Then you will be punished." He looked into her eyes softly as the self realisation hit her.

"It's not worth it, now come in and let's get you warmed up." He reached out an arm to her back and pushed her inside. Scarlette respectfully took off her shoes and walked inside, finding the first room with a sofa in it and sitting. She thought where she could go, she never had any friends and she knew getting home would be tricky, she could fly but the flight would be only half as long as if she walked, and that would take a long time. With no money and no food it wasn't worth the risk. A friendly girl's voice snapped Scarlette out of her thought's as she looked up through her hair and saw a brunette girl a little shorter then herself smiling and offering her tea.

"Hello! I'm Tohru Honda, I'm staying here with Shigure too! Would you like some tea?" The refreshing sound of someone being genuinely kind stopped her in her tracks and she opened her mouth to speak to the kind girl.

"Bonjour, I'm Scarlette Fléau, it's nice to meet you Honda-sama and yes please, I would like some tea." Tohru raised her hands up in defence.

"No really, Tohru's just fine!" She exclaimed modestly and poured Scarlette a cup.

"Yes, Tohru-sama." Tohru frowned a bit, not comfortable with being called sama one bit, but didn't want to hurt the girls feeling again and let her be.

"How long will you be staying here, Miss Fléau?" Tohru asked struggling to grasp the accent in Scarlette's last name.

"Until Akito-sama tells me different I suppose." Scarlette told her between sips. Tohru smiled and watched the girl for a moment, whose hair was still covering her ruby eyes.

"How long will you be staying here Tohru-sama?" Tohru smiled and said,

"Until, Shigure asks me to leave, I try not to be a bother but I really enjoy living here!" She looked so sincere Scarlette couldn't help but let a small smile flutter across her lips. She placed down her cup and stood smoothing her skirt.

"Thank you for the tea Tohru-sama. I shall be outside if you need me." Tohru smiled and opened the door for her bowing to each other as they left. Scarlette found the backdoor and the porch easily and stepped outside looking sadly at the August leaves. She sat down and stared at the sky, feeling caged. Her thoughts drifting to home and her poor Grandma. She felt hot tears slip down her cheek but brushed them away without a second thought. _No more tears, _she promised herself _what's done is done, I can't show weakness in the face of adversity. À vaillant coeur rien d'impossible. _(For a valiant heart nothing is impossible.)

A leaf fluttered down by her thigh and almost startled her. She picked it up and stared at it hard, her eyes trailing the pattern she wished to create.

She started at the leaf a few seconds and placed it down next to her. A chill wind had started and the black sky looked like it had been littered with diamonds. Scarlette leant back and stared at this wonder, so at least this city has some perks. She must have been out there for a long time because she heard a tentative knock on the door and it was slid open to reveal a timid Tohru with a steaming cup in her hands.

"You've been out here for 2 hours now Miss Fléau, I thought you might like some tea?" Scarlette smiled and stood taking the tea from Tohru's soft hands.

"Thank you Tohru-sama, I'll be coming in now." Tohru smiled and stepped aside, letting Scarlette pass her. As Tohru went to close the door she smelt smoke, she looked and saw nothing on fire but her eyes cast down to where Scarlette was sitting and saw something shining slightly in the moonlight. Tohru bent down and saw it was a leaf from the tree, but it was burnt, there was a heart with an intricate design embezzled into the centre.


	2. Chapter II

Chapter II

The living room was well kept and had a very homely feel to it, but Scarlette felt anything but at home. Shigure saw her pass by over his paper and motioned for her to come and sit with him, she obliged and sat at the furthest end of the sofa.

"Hey Scarlette, why not tell us a bit about yourself? Afterall it looks like you'll be staying here for a while, so we might as well get along!" Scarlette stared at him and her small audiance (consisting of everyone but Hatori) for a moment then opened her mouth and recieted,

"My name is Scarlette Fléau and I'm 17. I was born in France, I speak French, English and Japanese fluently. I like to sew, drink tea, watch movies, listen to classical music and participate in traditional dance. My favorite colours pink and I like flowers and diamonds" A boy on the floor with orange hair sniggered and said,

"You honestly enjoy doing all that stuff? Come on! I'm not stupid, that's a load of bull! Tell us the truth or don't bother." He said and leant back on the floor.

"Kyo! Could you try and be a little respectful?!" Shigure scolded him and turned to Scarlette to apologise.

"I am-"

"Don't be, I'm getting pretty sick of pretending, I figure if you guys aren't anything like Akito then I don't mind speaking like a real person." Her voice now became informal as she slouched more and leant back in her chair.

"Like I said the name's Scarlette, call me Scar. I like to ride loud motorbikes, get drunk, watch and read porn, listen to metal and fight. My favourite colours red and I like piercings and tattoo's. That better pussums?" Scar said grinning at the jaw dropped cat of the zodiac. The rest of the audcience looked a little shocked to say the least. One boy returned to drinking his tea and said placidly,

"You watch porn." Scar nodded slightly and replied,

"Oui. It's a good way to wind down at the end of the day." She said simply as if talking about listening to music. Shigure smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"Nothing better then an honest girl!" She smiled a little flirtatiously and siad,

"Down boy." Shigure faltered and pushed his reading galsses further up his nose and grinned. Scar looked around to the rest of the audience and still saw some shocked faces.

"So how about you be fair and tell me about yourselves?" Shigure nodded enthusiastically and began,

"Well, my name is Shigure Sohma, I'm a writer and I'm also the dog of the zodiac, Tohru?" Tohru was sitting closest to him and bowed her head to Scar again.

"My names Tohru Honda, I'm 18 and in my last year of high school, I enjoy living in Shigure's house and am very grateful for them taking me in! Yuki?" Tohru was enthusiastic again. The violet haired boy cleared his throat and smiled toward's Scar.

"Hello Scar, my name's Yuki Sohma, I also attend highschool and am 18 the same as Miss Honda. I enjoy gardening and I'm the rat of the zodiac." Scar nodded and said hello to Yuki and waited for the next person.

"Hi Scar! My names Momiji Sohma! I'm 17 and attend the same highschool as Tohru and Yuki, I like sweets and I'm the rabbit of the zodiac!" Momiji finished bouncing in his seat. Scar smiled and looked a little expectantly at the next person.

"My names Hatsuharu Sohma, call me Haru. I'm the Ox of the zodiac." He said smiply staring up at the ceiling, without a care in the world. Scar said hello again and admired his two toned hair then looked towards Kyo. Kyo glared at her and she folded her arms.

"If you don't want to introduce yourself I won't force you know." She stated turning back to her tea.

"I'm Kyo, I don't like the rain I don't like leeks and I don't like the rat. I'm the cat. Happy now?!" Scar grinned,

"Much better!" Tohru squeaked a little and said,

"I'm so sorry Miss Fléau! I forgot to ask, are you hungry? Dinner will be ready in an hour but if you want something to subside yourself with until then, I'd be happy to go and find something!" Scar smiled at the girl.

"I'm fine Tohru-sama, thank you for asking though." Tohru smiled and went to bussle off into the kitchen to make a start on dinner.

"So, Scar-chan, why are you here?" Shigure asked politely and smiled to her. Scar's eyes took on a hard look and she stared a little too hard at the table.

"Akito-sama asked me." She said simply, they could tell by her tone that she didn't come here by choice but noone pressed the matter. Anything to do with Akito was hard enough and sometimes listening to other people's stories can hurt too much, especially where Akito was concerend. Judging by the look on her face, it wasn't a happy story either.

"I see, well were glad to have you here. Would you like me to show you your room?" Scar nodded and stood up along with Shigure. They walked up the stairs and Shigure pointed where the bathroom was to her and she nodded in thanks before coming to a closed door.

"Here we are, right next to Tohru too! Sorry it's a bit of a mess, noone told us you'd be coming here." Scar nodded and he opened the door and flicked on the light. It looked a lot like a guest room with plain white and creams. There was a large wardrobe and a standing mirror, the window had a view of the back garden and what stretched beyond it. Scar dropped her bag and sat down on her bed.

"Is that all you bought Scar-chan?" She shook her head and said,

"No, I bought my imidiate essentials and a change of clothes, I thought I'd rather mail my luggage then haul it with me everywhere, considering there was a lot of stuff. It should arrive at Akito's house tomorrow or the day after." Shigure nodded and said,

"Well I'll leave you to wind down for a bit if there's anything you need, I'll be downstairs, I'll give you a shout when dinners done."

"OK, thank you Shigure-sama." Shigure smiled again and closed the door. Scar sighed and got up from the bed fishing around in her bag. she pulled out her lacy red teddy with a deep plunge, matching panties and a black silk dressing gown. She thought it best to change into these later on, after dinner to stop Tohru from probably having a heart attack. Scar pulled out a book and her diary and threw the book onto her bed for later reading and the diary into her draw along with her pen. She rumaged around for a box and sighed, this was gonna hurt. But the cursed healing should make it heal quickly. Inside the box was her piercings she'd taken out when she went to go see Akito. She stoop infornt of the mirror and brought a chair infront of it and started the painful process of repiercing 3 facial piercings and 1 surface pierving, between her cleavege, for the total of twelve that she had, the rest covered by hair or clothes. Once she was done she slumped back into the chair with a grimace, her two black lip studs still a little red and raw along with her eyebrow bar and her chest piercing. She sprayed some antiseptic on the mall and sighed again walking over to her bed and picking up her book to continue reading. As she reached the end of the first chapter she heard Shigure yell upto her that dinner was ready. She stood up and yelled that she'd be down in a moment giving her piercings a once over in the mirror and seeing that they were healing fast, she changed out of her top into a red tight fitting tank top, with a slight plunge at the front to show off her ample breasts. She opened the door and nearly bumped into someone.

"Pardon!" She exclaimed in french and looked up seeing Haru. He looked down at her boredly, studying her face.

"It's alright Scar...I was wondering when you were gonna put them back in." Scar raised an eyebrow and stared at him incrediously whilst standing up and brushing off her skirt.

"How could you tell?" He continued walking falling into step with her.

"Fresh holes means you'd just taken them out, and you said you liked piercings so I had a feeling you wouldn't just let them heal over." Scar nodded as they walked down the stairs.

"You have any piercings Haru-sama?" He nodded but didn't state what he had. That would be her little game to find out.

"Glad you could make it for dinner! Were having Yakisoba!" Shouted a grinning Momiji. Scar and Haru sat down at the table and looked at the well prepared Japanese dish of noodles, ginger and meat. Scar got a bit nervous having never tried japanese food before, but knew it would be rude not to try.

"Hey Scar-chan...when did you get piercings?" Momiji asked curiously as he stared up at her face.

"Oh, pardón, I took them out when I went to see Akito-sama. I put them in a little while ago." She stated simply before digging into her yakisoba. It was actually quite delicious. She looked up from her plate to see an expectant Tohru.

"I'm sorry Miss Fléau, I didn't know how to make any french dishes, so I made a simple yakisoba, I hope you like it." Tohru beamed again sending waves of bliss over to Scar, who again couldn't help but smile at the girls pleasent aura.

"It's lovely Tohru-sama, I'll be honest I was kind of worried becasue I've never tried japanese cuisene before but I'm pleasently surprised. Mercí, Tohru-sama." Scar had to stiffle a giggle at tohru's blush, it was quite adorable.

"So Scar-chan, do you plan on enrolling in the new term of school?" Scar frowned for a moment before shrugging.

"I don't know, Akito-sama mentioned it, but he didn't specify whther or not I'd be attending. I guess I can always ask him-" Shigure frowned, knowing it was always hard to talk to Akito.

"It's ok Scar-chan, I'll ask him. I planned on seeing him within the next day or so, so I could probably pick up your belongings if they're there by the time I see him." Scar smiled brightly.

"Mercí Shigure-sama. I would appreciate it." The rest of the dinner was concluded in mostly silence, Shigure was teasing Kyo occasionally and had asked if the others if they had done their summer assignments. Scar enjoyed listening to the family like conversation as she nibbled on her Daifuku dessert and was pleasently surprised to find a strawberry centre.

"Scar-chan...why do you hide your eyes?" Momiji asked with childlike curiousity.

"Because, I don't like the questions about them, my hair colours bad enough." Scar answered simply and continued to munch on her sweet treat.

"Can I see?" Scar had hidden her eyes behind her hair for as long as she could, and moved her silk locks out of her eyes, staring bashfully at the plate before looking up into Momiji's eyes.

"Scar-chan! They're like rubies!" Momiji jumped over the table to stare at them better, making Scar all sorts of self concious.

"They're a bit of a pain in the-"

"Well I think it's high time we should be getting to bed, it's getting to be quite late and I'm sure Scar-chan would like a rest after having a long trip here." Shigure announced swiftly cutting Scar off whilst Tohru cleared the plates away. Everyone said goodnight and marched upstairs into their rooms, Haru and Momiji didn't live there but stayed over during the summer to escape the main compound. Tohru was the last one to go upstairs but stopped Shigure before she went up.

"Shigure-san...I have something to ask you..." He stopped and turned to her.

"What is it my little flower?" Tohru tentativly reached into her pocket and pulled out the burnt leaf she found earlier.

"What do you think could have made this?" She gently dropped the leaf into Shigure's outstretched hand and he stared at it critically before answering her.

"Where did you find this?" She fidgeted a little as if she had done something bad.

"When Miss Fléau was outside I went to go and give her some tea because she'd been out there for quite a while, she came in and when I went to close the door I smelt a burning, I got a bit worried and looked around but saw this where she was sitting. Did I do anything wrong by taking it? I'm not sure if it's some sort of french tradition...I didn't do anything wrong did I?" She looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"Tohru, don't be worried. As far as I know there is no such french custom. By the looks of it it's what Scar did to pass the time. Though I don't know how she did it...this design is far to comlex to have been done with a naked flame or a cigarette. Let's keep this between us for now. Remember, just because Scar-chans here doesn't mean she's nice, we don't know her yet so make sure to keep safe around her OK Tohru-chan?" Tohru nodded but only saw the sweet girl that had smiled gently and was nervous to show her stunning eye colour to the childlike Momiji.

"Goodnight Tohru-chan!" Shigure called to her cheerfully as he went back to his room. Tohru also bode him a goodnight and retired to her room like the others.


	3. Chapter III

Chapter III

Scar twisted fretfully in her sheets. Her night terrors waking her again, she panted and sipped the water she had taken to her bedside table. She looked around the dark room and knew that she couldn't sleep alone. It went against her pride but she needed a hug and she needed one badly. She thought for a moment and decided that Tohru would be the best person.

She stepped out of her bed and slipped on her black silk dressing gown then exited her dark room, shivering at the thought that something might be behind her. She remembered that Shigure said that Tohru was in the room next to her, and knew that the bathroom was on the left so that left the right door. She walked upto it and wrapped her dressing gown tighter around her body before knocking. She heard shuffled footsteps and a bleary eyed Tohru opened the door.

"Miss Fléau? Is there something wrong?" Tohru asked and snapped out of her tiredness a worried look plastered across her face. Scar opened her mouth to speak but felt her words get jumbled up and her throat tighten. Scar stepped in and openly hugged Tohru, feeling her tears flow onto the girls nightshirt. She sobbed as quietly as she could, trying so hard not to let herself go anymore then she already had. Her thoughts flashed to her grandma and she felt her chest heave as a loud sob escaped her chest. Tohru stood there not knowing what to do before wrapping her arms around the quivering girl.

"Please..can I stay with you...I can't-" Tohru had heard enough, knowing that Scar didn't want to reveal the full reason. Tohru shut the door and lead the sobbing girl to her bed, letting her cry freely onto her shirt as she wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm s-sorry..I-" But a fresh wave of tears cut her off again, so she continued to cry openly into Tohru's shirt.

"I don't know what happened Miss Fléau, and I think you'll tell me when your ready, but please don't be ashamed to cry. I won't think any less of you, everyone has their moment of weakness and I'm here for you through yours. I know I can't do much for you, but please, if you need to cry, cry." Scar took a breath and began crying harder onto Tohru gripping her shirt as Tohru soothingly stroked her hair.

"Mercí Tohru-sa-" Again, she couldn't finish her sentence and was taken over by her sobs.

That's how they stayed until morning, curled up against one another, Tohru stoking her hair and back trying to comfort her as much as she could without words.

* * *

Tohru were awoken by a knocking on her door. She got ready to stand up but saw Scar asleep, still clinging to her shirt. Tohru smiled and told the person to come in. Shigure and Yuki entered,

"Miss Honda-" Yuki started but saw the sleeping girl still curled up on Tohru. Tohru placed a finger to her lips and motioned for them to enter.

"What is she doing here?" Yuki asked, slightly worried for Tohru's safety. Tohru continued to stroke Scar's back and hair still soothing her in a motherly fashion.

"She came in last night, she was upset and asked to stay. It's fine Yuki-kun," Yuki stopped looking slightly peeved and relaxed. He had no idea what this girl had been through and Tohru was the easiest person to go to in times of need. Shigure still couldn't help but make a remark.

"I missed highschool girls in bed together!?" Scar's eye's shot open and she glared fiercly at Shigure. He took a fearful step back as did Yuki.

"Ne fais pas ça!" She spoke harshly in french before sitting up and looking at Tohru. Her angry gaze dropped as she remembered last nights events. She pulled Tohru towards her and kissed both her cheeks.

"Mercí Tohru-sama." Tohru blushed but nodded, mouth slightly agape.

"I-it's fine Miss Fléau." Scar smiled at her gently almost realising that she'd never recived a thanks like that.

"Please, call me Scar?" Tohru nodded again and smiled brightly.

"OK, Scar-chan..." Tohru almost tested and Scar gave her a warm smile in response. Scar stretched and turned towards the two Sohma's, watching with their mouths open. Shigure was also staring openly st Scar's choice of nightwear. Scar didn't even blush but stood up and walked past them both, she turned and gave Tohru another friendly wave before leaving. She walked across to the bathroom, but as she tried the door she noticed it was locked. She waited patiently and the door was opened by a shirtless Haru, who was still rubbing his hair dry, just having come out of the shower. He noticed her and looked down then his eye's zinged to her chest. He stared at her practically seethrough night attire and then stepped past her, without saying a word.

"Morning Haru-sama." She practially drawled knowing her soft and somewhat sensuous voice would reach him. He tried hard not to show his composure had faltered but raised an arm in a wave and pretended he hadn't almost stumbled as he walked back into his borrowed room.

Scar giggled and went into the bathroom, stripping off before taking a nice lengthy shower, she felt like she needed one after all that crying. She tried not to think about her distressing problems and focused on how she was going to get out of here. Walking out was kind of out without any money and food, she didn't feel right stealing so both of those were out. She knew that if she got a job Akito wouldn't approve and Akito still held onto her large fortune that her Grandma had left her. She sighed and rolled her head back onto the shower wall. She stared at the ceiling feeling as hopeless as she could possibly feel, she knew threatening Akito would do her no good, they were legal documents and if she threatened or even killed him for them he would probably take them to his grave. She cracked her knuckles systematically and took a deep breath before promising herself that she'd return to this problem at a later date.

After drying and returning to her own room she heard Shigure call her name, she yelled that she'd be there in a minute and quickly dressed in a pair of red hotpants and a white blouse with some thigh length white and red striped stockings. She rushed downstairs seeing what she was wanted for.

"Breakfast!" Scar seemed a bit stunned as she looked around at the short table where everyone was sitting eating an omlette prepared by Tohru. Omlette was one thing Scar knew would taste good and sat down to dig into hers happily. Momiji jumped upto her and sat on her knees.

"Scar-chan! What are you planning on doing today?!" Scar faltered.

"I hadn't thought about it Momiji-sama, I guess I was just going to um...stay in and read. Why is there something more interesting to do?" Momiji looked shocked by her idea.

"Read? But it's so nice out! We should go out and have fun! We could go shopping?!" Momiji bounced and Scar's eyes followed him having trouble keeping up with his early morning spirit.

"Calm down! Shopping sounds great, but I'm afraid I have no money."Momiji smiled again at Scar's soft smile and bounced more as Tohru cleared away the plates.

"Thats fine I don't mind paying for your stuff!" Scar looked at him slightly shocked.

"I couldn't possibly take your money Momiji-sama, I feel bad enough intruding as it is!" Momiji pulled a huge puppy face which Scar was struggling to resist.

"But Scar-chan..." Kyo was getting peeved and punched Momiji in the top of the head.

"Shut up you damn brat! She said she doesn't want to so don't pester her!"

"WAHHH!! KYO HIT ME!!" Scar got annoyed and looked him dead in the eyes.

"Hey, no need to hit the kid! He was being nice! If you want to hit someone try picking on someone your own size!" She stood up to prove a point and the rest of the table stared at her. Kyo twisted his head from her and stated.

"I wouldn't hit a defenceless girl." Her eyes narrowed at the sexist remark and she clenched her fist, crcking her knuckles.

"Stupid little kitty seems to be too scared to hit a girl...stupid, stupid cat." Scar recieted smoothly, venom raidiating from her words. Kyo stood and turned to her.

"I'm not stupid I just don't want to hit a girl!!" Scar quickly rose to the challange and stared him dead in the eye.

"No your right your not stupid. Your pathetic! Your too fucking pussy to hit a girl, your too afraid that heck I might be a match for you or that you think I'm not even worthy of your time! I remember the stupid cat! What cat listens to a rat?!" Kyo had flipped and punched the table, breaking it.

"SHUT UP!" She smirked at him and then grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.

"Come on then you need to let off stome steam!? Take it out on me! I dare you! Or are you still too chicken to touch a girl!?" The others had stopped not sure what to do, they knew Scar was taking it too far, but she didn't care, she knew if she needed one thing today it was a good fight.

"I SAID SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" He ran towards her to hit her and Yuki and Haru ran in to intervene but stopped as Scar ran upto Kyo also and roundhouse kicked him to the face. Kyo went skidding through the grass as he sat up half shocked but still angry.

"What? Didn't think I was all talk did you?" She fell easily into a well practised stance that none could recognise. Kyo stood again and went in for the kill once more. She ran too and dropped skidding between his legs then doing a handstand and using one leg to lift his back before throwing him over with her other and standing on his chest.

" Is that really all you've got?" He glared again and the fight continued, Scar using his rage against him and Kyo only managing to get a few hits in.

"Scar-chan!! Are you alright?!" Momiji yelled to her after a fierce palm blow to the collarbone, she stood and didn't even flinch at the fact that her shoulder was clearly dislocated. Kyo stopped and looked at her, not sure what he should do. She blinked and grabbed her shoulder and winced only slightly, but soon her wince turned into a smile. She traced her hand down her arm and pulled herself down into a one kneed crouch. She stood on her bad hand andthen stood not removing her hand and pulling her shoulder back into place with a deafening pop.

"Scar-chan!! That is enough!" Shigure yelled to her. She turned and looked at him, her eyes barely registering him. She was more or less blinded with anger now.

"Why Shigure-sama? I wanna play..." She spoke to him, her soft voice reching him with subtle seductive tones. Shigure didn't falter and stared at her hard.

"I know what your doing to Kyo and this has gone on long enough. Stop tormenting him becasue you want to get your own rage out. I don't know what happened to you, but if your that desperate for a fight then go down to the dojo and fight Kazuma. But I will not tolerate you disrespecting my family. Whilst your here you can obey by those rules!" He firmly stated and Scar tilted her head a cute look playing on her features buta maliciouds glare in her eyes.

"But I'm being forced to stay here. I have no choice. Why should I listen to you? What will you do for me? How can you help!? Your useless people, you don't know the meaning of cursed! You don't know what it means to be like you are! You can't touch a girl?! SO WHAT!! I can do even less then you! I CAN'T GET MAD, I SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN FOUND!! I WAS THE FAMILIES BEST KEPT SECRET FOR A REASON!! LOOK ME UP WHY DON'T YOU! I'M-!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Tohru stood and yelled. Shigure's face dropped and Scar looked at her, her eyes beginning to water, not tears of sadness or self pity. But tears of frustration and self loathing.

"I don't know what happened to you Scar and I don't know who you are but please...taking your anger out on us won't solve anything, please let us help you?" Tohru's faced looked so welcoming and kind as she walked over to Scar that Scar stood still, unsure of what to do, feeling ashamed and wanting to turn and run but needing comfort. Scar felt her head lurch as she felt her knees buckle, she knew what would happen but didn't want them to know and deciding to gather her strength and run into the forest as fast as she could would be her best option. Scar hid up a tree and watched as some of them ran into the forest to look for her. She stopped smothering the feeling that was overcoming her and let go changing into a white peacock.


	4. Chapter IV

Chapter IV

The Sohma family and Tohru ran through the forest looking for her, shouting her name trying to get her to come back. Upon her transformation, Scar felt her anger leave her and felt very embaressed about her outburst and almost giving away the secret she had told Akito she wouldn't. She grabbed her clothes with her beak and flew up and into Tohru's room sitting on her bed waiting to transform back. Scar curled up into a ball and felt sorry for herself and stupid at casuing so much trouble, she knew that at any moment she would have accidently transformed into something much worse if her anger continued like that and was glad that Tohru had intervened when she did. Scar sighed and looked out of the window seeing the others still looking for her she didn't even notice when she changed back and dressed slowly, wanting Tohru to come upstairs already so she could aplologise. She sat back down on the bed and looked out of the window, and she knew she was alone so let the tears that she knew were bursting to come out, flow freely and before she knew it, again she was asleep, curled up on Tohru's pillow.

* * *

"Scar-chan?" Scar heard the tenative voice call her name and sat up, her face feeling slightly sticky from the tears that she had cried earlier. Tohru sat down next to her and smiled softly at her.

"We were very worried about you, are you OK?" Scar sat up and nodded, still feeling really embaressed about her earlier outburst.

"I'm sorry Tohru, I don't know what came over me, I wanted to get some agression out of my system and I heard that all of the Zodiac were trained in martial arts. I needed to get it out of my system and fighting half hearted people at a dojo wouldn't have cut it. I've ruined your day haven't I?" Tohru held her hands up and shook her head.

"No! Of course you haven't Scar-chan! We were all just so worried about you! I'm just glad your safe, how long have you been up here?" Scar flopped down onto Tohru's lap, wanting her to play with her hair again.

"I don't know, a while I guess, I must have fell asleep." She said, feeling guilty for having worried people. Tohru began to play with her hair softly stroking and runnng her fingers through it.

"Well as long as your feeling better now. Are you hungry Scar-chan? I can fix up some lunch if you like?" Scar shook her head happy to have someone stroke her it made her happy.

"It's OK Tohru-chan...I just want to stay here wih you for a while is that OK?" She asked feeling almost worried that Tohru would leave her alone. The change of honerific was not missed on Tohru who smiled softly stroking her hair still, like she was a pet.

"That's fine Scar-chan." A small smile played around her features as Scar snuggled further into Tohru's lap, feeling safe. They stayed in that position for a long time until Momiji knocked on the door and Tohru looked to Scar for confirmation to let him in. Scar nodded that it was fine.

"Tohru we couldn't- Scar-chan?! YAY YOUR SAFE!!" Momiji jumped up and sat next to her holding her hand.

"I was so worried Scar-chan! I couldn't find you anywhere! I searched all over the forest but I couldn't see you and I've just came back in to tell Tohru the sad news but here you are! I'm so glad we sent Tohru back to wait for you incase you showed up! Are you OK? Your not still mad at Kyo-kun are you?" Scar stoked his head and smiled happily at the happy go lucky Momiji.

"No, I'm fine I'm sorry I ran away and got mad earlier, I didn't mean to make you waste your day looking for me." Momiji beamed up at her and sat infront of her.

"It's OK! I was just worried, but I'm glad your here! Do you want to play a game with me and Haru? Tohru your invited to play too! So's everyone!" Scar stretched out ad bit and sat up looking at Tohru with a smile.

"That sound's like fun, Tohru you want to play too?" Tohru looked thoughtful for a minute before answering.

"Well, I have to make lunch, how about I join in after?" Momiji nodded enthusiastically and grabbed Scar's arm and dragged her away. Scar turned and gave Tohru a wide grin before Momiji dragged her out of the door. Momiji turned and smiled to her.

"You know, with all that cuddling you and Tohru do Kyo's going to get jealous!" Momiji giggled and Scar grinned, this was a bit too much fun to pass up. She quickly changed the subject so Momiji had no idea what she was planning.

"So what game is it?" Momiji was skipping alongside her as they walked down the stairs.

"Truth and dare." Scar stopped dead and looked at Momiji.

"Really?! But isn't that game a little umm...dangerous?" Momiji didn't seem to get what she was hinting at and frowned.

"Well, I don't think anyone would dare you to do anything dangerous, Scar-chan." Scar shook her head just remembering to avoid the dangers of truth.

"Alright then, lets go Momiji." momiji grinned again and contiued dragging scar into the living room where the others were sat a worried look on their faces.

"Look who I found!" They turned at Momiji's voice and looked happily at everyone.

"I'm sorry I worried you all, please forgive me?" Kyo glared at her and turned his head away.

"Of course Scar-chan, were just glad your safe!" Shigure smiled and put his paper down, Scar looked guiltily at them all and rubbed her arms.

"I'm sorry Kyo, I didn't mean to say mean things to you, I don't think your stupid. I was just angling for a fight and I knew you wouldn't hit a girl so I baited you and I shouldn't have. Please forgive me?" Kyo looked at her sincere eyes and he blushed slightly.

"Yeah well, don't do it again. If you want a fight, I'll fight you but don't take it so far OK?!" He half yelled at her, but the blush adorning his features showed he wasn't too mad with her. She smiled and sat down.

"So according to Momiji him and Haru are playing truth and dare, anyone else want to play?" Shigure removed his reading glasses and smiled raising his hand in the air.

"Me! Me!!" Scar laughed.

"How old are you?!" Shigure paused for a moment and sang,

"Young enough to know and old enough not to care!" Scar scoffed and lightly tapped him on his arm.

"I'm 17 and I say that!" She giggled with him and Kyo 'Humphed'.

"I don't want to play it's a kids game." Scar nodded and looked at Yuki.

"Yuki? Come on it'll be fun!" Yuki smiled at her enthusiasm.

"I don't know...is Honda-san playing?" Scar smiled at him and saw Kyo give him a sideways jealous glance.

"Oui! She said she wants to make some lunch and then she'll join in, I think it'd be fun personally!" Shigure's phone rang at that point and he rushed to answer it in the other room. She grinned at Haru and he half smiled.

"You won't let me down will you Haru?" Haru gave her a knowing sort of look.

"Of course I won't, and besides, Momiji asked me to play earlier so I can't refuse now can I?" Scar grinned at him.

"I suppose not, so Yuki is that a yes?" Yuki smiled at her pushing and nodded slightly.

"Alright then Fléau-sama. Are we starting now?" Scar nodded and they all gathered round the table diligently.

"So how are we doing this then? Someone has a turn and then the person who they asked asks someone else?" Momiji asked and looked towards Haru for confirmation that he had done OK.

"Yes, that sounds good, who wants to start?" Haru looked around the table. Yuki smiled and gestured back towards Momiji, resting his hands behind him.

"Momiji should go first, seeing as it was his idea." Momiji grinned and stood up bouncing on the balls of his feet.

"Hmm...OK then, I'll pick..um...Shigure! Shigure, truth or dare?" Shigure pondered for a moment, then a devilish gleam came into his eyes as he answered.

"Dare." Momiji scrunched up his brow and turned to Haru and started whispering, Haru also whispered to him and finally a look of glee spread across Momiji's face and he turned triumphantly to Shigure.

"We dare you to drink two bottles of your sake and share the rest with us!" Scar, whose hand had been resting on her chin looked a little shocked at this one and turned to Shigure who didn't even look surprised and stood retriving 5 bottles of sake and 6 small cups. He began pouring everyone a shot and brought a bottle to his lips and began gulping down the clear liquid as everyone watched in awe. Scar grinned and picked up her glass, some attention was directed at her as she raised the glass to Shigure, who had stopped for a quick breath.

"Not to be outdone." With those last words she raised her cup to her lips and shot back the alcohol, feeling the warmth spread in her throat and run down into her body. Scar grinned and helped herself to the bottle topping her drink up. She turned towards Kyo who looked a little disgusted by the drinking and stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

"Wassup pussums? Scared of a little drink?" Kyo glared and picked up his cup and copied Scar taking the shot back. He spluttered slightly and coughed but kept a strong composure and slammed the glass down onto the table.

"As if!" I can handle my alcohol!" Scar grinned and turned to Shigure who was halfway through his second bottle, looking slightly trashed already. She giggled and sat up on her knees and riased her glass to Haru.

"Thank you Haru for some good entertainment!" She shot back the cup again and started to feel the effects, dulling her senses. Haru smirked and took his shot too. Momiji looked a little confused and then picked up his glass tentatively and dipping his tongue in.

"Blergh! This stuff doesn't taste that nice!" Scar giggled and leant over smoothing Momijis honey locks.

"It's not supposed to taste nice chérie, just shot it and try not to let it touch your tongue OK?" Momiji had a set look on his face as he did as instructed and drank his shot. He let out a giant sigh and giggled as he turned to Haru.

"Haru my hands feel really warm, are they warm?" He began placing his hands on Harus face which sent Scar into giggles as she poured him another shot. She turned to Yuki who was looking at them all disdainfully.

"Were minors we shouldn't be drinking." Scar moved over to Yuki and grinned.

"According to law, your allowed to drink in your own home if an adult provides you with alcohol. So drink up chérie, theres nothing illigal about what were doing." Yuki looked reluctant and looked sideways at Scar then turned his eyes to the giggling Momiji.

"Fine, but I don't want to get drunk." Scar nodded and watched as Yuki skillfully took his shot and unlike the others he didn't splutter or complain about the taste but a few seconds after Scar had refilled his glass he hiccuped. Scar giggled and ruffled his hair playfully before returning to her spot. Shigure slammed his second bottle onto the table and turned to Scar.

"Scar-channn! Truth or dare?!" He sang to her and she giggled taking another shot before replying.

"Dare!!" Shigure grinned and hekd his chin and tried to look thoughtful.

"I dare you to do the can-can! You are french afterall, its one of the things your famous for!" Scar rolled her eyes and stood up.

"Were famous for something else actually...can you guess what?" She turned a mischevious eye onto Shigure who merely grinned in response. She stood up and turned to Shigure,

"You know the sort of music right? Just bang on the table." She flicked her hair off her shoulders and watched as Shigure began to tap his hands on the wooden surface and she began kicking her legs up in a steady rythem, she giggled and felt happier then she had done in a while and when he reached the end of his musical tapping she grabbed her leg and held it up next to her head.

"Tada!" Shigure applauded enthusiastically which started off Momiji and the others as Scar rested her leg back down and plonked herself into her spot taking another shot which someone had kindly refilled for her.

"How can you get your leg up like that Scar-chan?" Momiji asked with childlike awe playing across his features. She smiled and looked away abit thoughtfully before answering.

"I used to do gymnastics, all my family did, its where we learnt how to fight. Start gymnastics at 4, then at 8 when your deemed flexible enough you can begin learning Danse Noir, which is our families self taught martial art, handed down through generations. You finish learning at about 16 but continue training throughout your life! There's a little bit of info for ya!" She exclaimed happily, hunting for the bottle, wanting another shot. Kyo slammed down his 4th shot turned an accusing finger at her.

"So thats where you learned how to fight! I didn't recognise the style but it was good! We should fight again!" Scar's face brightened and she nodded enthusiastically,

"Yeah! Oh wow, we really should! This time we can finish it and I can win against you!" Kyo and her playfully argued between shots for the next couple of rounds of the game, by the end of which most were beligerently drunk and Momiji was doing an adorable impression of a christmas elf whilst Yuki still was recovering from Scars hair question she had asked Haru, which he decided to prove infront of the whole table, whilst erect, why he was a erect was a mystery to all of them. Shigure's kimono had fallen haphazerdly around his shoulders after doing a hilarious crab impression whilst drinking a shot, to which Scar was still chuckling fondly at. Then Tohru walked in and things went a little wrong from then onwards.


	5. Chapter V

**Sorry I know this ones a bit short but I'm updating two just to make up for it :D Please review I'd like to know I'm doing well, I accept flames and critique, pretty please ^^ anyway, chapter 5.**

Chapter V

Scar's eyes widened at the suspicious scene Tohru had stumbled upon, everyone was looking at her a little guility, except Haru and Momiji, Momiji was a bit too drunk, bouncing upto her and aiming for a hug but missing completely and face planting the floor. Haru didn't look like he cared, he was far too busy pouring his next shot.

"Are you OK?!" She asked worried, trying to pick Momiji up from the floor without touching his chest. Shigure smiled and jumped up skipping towards her.

"Tohru-chan! Oh my little flower! As you can see we are all quite drunk! It's a wonderful feeling and I reccomend you try it!" Yuki and Kyo both snapped and punched him, sending him flying. Kyo turned to her and started blushing.

"You don't have to drink, but were all giving it a try and...uh..." He triled off looking hard into Tohrus cerulean eyes, clearly mesmerised. Yuki looked like he was about to shout at him so Scar stood and walked upto Tohru.

"Tohru-chan! Indeed we have been drinking! I'm sure you would love it, please try a glass with us, were playing the game Momiji mentioned earlier, won't you please join in?" Tohru looked dazed at Scar's cute face, she knew that if she said no, she would hurt her feelings and besides it was only one glass, and they all looked like they were having fun.

"Well, I guess it couldn't hurt, could it?" Scar grinned and handed her a readymade shot.

"Not at all Tohru-chan! Please come sit with me?" She pulled Tohru down into the space next to her.

"Whose turn was it?" Haru asked as he slammed down yet another shot. Scar looked thoughtful and was about to answer when she was interrupted by Shigure.

"I think it should be Tohru's turn, Tohru were playing truth or dare, you choose the next person and then give them a truth or a dare depending on what they pick OK?" Tohru nodded and looked into her shot glass at the clear liquid, she sniffed it delicately and Scar watched her with amused interest.

"Tohru-chan, knock it back really fast and try not to let it touch your tongue OK?" Tohru nodded and with a determined look set on her face she raised the cup to her lips and did exactly as Scar instructed. The taste was bitter and left a strong burning sensation in her throat. Tohru felt her eyes begin to water but wiped them quickly, not wanting anyone to think she was upset. Scar giggled and hugged her brave friend.

"See Tohru, that wasn't too bad was it?" Tohru shook her head still trying to find a way to speak around her building cough. Scar chuckled and softly rubbed Tohru's back placing gentle kisses on her cheeks that Tohru had become accustomed to. Scar pulled back and looked at Tohru's still mildly watering eyes.

"Awh, chérie, your so cute..." She trailed off as she placed a soft kiss to Tohru's lips. Tohru's eyes went wide as did everyone elses in the room. Scar melted into her lips and gave her gentle chaste kisses before pulling away and cuddling Tohru then slippng into her lap resting her head there. The room was silent as Tohru's face was still slightly pouting, her eyes wide and glossy. Scar made a noise and grabbed Tohru's hand and placed it on her head.

"Tohru-chan..." She sang, "Play with my hair, I love it when you do." Tohru snapped out of her daze and looked down blushingly at Scar's innocent face.

"Oh...OK.."Tohru murmered. Tohru's hand began running through Scars smooth locks making her nuzzle her head happily into Tohru's thigh. The rest of the room was still deathly quiet until Haru knocked back yet another shot and slammed it onto the table.

"And I don't get this sort of treatment why?" Shigure burst out laughing and began filling his cup with tears in his eyes.

"Oh my, that was funny Scar, a cruel thing to do to my little blosssom but funny and very sexy!" Shigure toasted her and again drank. Scar lifted her head and smiled at Shigure before sending a coy grin to Haru.

"Soo...we still playing the game then?" Momiji asked and Haru poured him another shot. Scar smiled again at him and reached her hand out for the glass still in Harus hand, who was currently pouring himself and Yuki a drink.

"Oui, it's Tohru's go right?" Tohru nodded numbly at her name and mildly snapped out of her confusion.

"Oh right...well..um...Yuki truth or dare?" Yuki looked up over his glass and drank slowly, trying to think before replying.

"Well, I think...truth Miss Honda." Tohru nodded a look of pure concentration on her face as she tried to think of one. She sat there for a moment thinking hard whilst Scar was refilling Tohru and her own glasses. Scar then took pity on her and sat up and whispered her ideas into Tohru's ear.

"Why not ask him 'If I was a food how would you eat me and what food would I be?' I think that would be good, what do you think?" Tohru didn't seem to get the implications of the question and nodded in agreement before turning to Yuki and repeating the question.

"Yuki, if I was a food, how would you eat me and what food would I be?" Shigure smothered a giggle with his hand and looked expectantly at Yuki, who was blushing furiously.

"Oh...well...um...I think, I think you'd be a riceball...and I would...eat you slowly..." Scar burst into a fit of gigles and rolled onto the floor along with Shigure who was clutching his ribs.

"Oh god! That's just too good! Yuki, well played!!" Scar yelled to him from the floor before a fresh wave of laughter caught up with her. After the laughter had stopped with Scar's eyes streaming with tears her and Shigure both sat up and tried to continue the game.

"Tohru toast with me!" Scar raised her glass to Tohru and they both tapped the glass and a soft ching could be heard.

"To riceballs!" Scar said merrily before tossing her shot down her throat letting out a sigh. Tohru was far more delicate about her shot and drank it quickly and hiccuped slightly. Yuki shot her a glare which Scar playfully smirked at.

"Right then Yuki your turn, and drink your shot!" Scar told him as his glare deepened.

"Fine." Yuki knocked back another shot and scanned the room, his eyes continuously drawing back to Scar to glare at her for giving him such an embaressing truth, when a small smirk graced his lips.

"Scar, truth or dare?" Scar smiled, she hadn't chose truth throughout the game for a good reason, she knew it would bite her in the ass.

"Dare Yuki-chan!" She sang with an adorable high note in her voice. Yuki was prepared for this and transformed his truth into a dare.

"I dare you to tell the whole truth for the night." Scar visably flinched and grumbled picking at her shot glass gingerly.

"Name the terms and the forfit." Yuki smiled smugly in her direction and picked up his shot.

"Anyone who asks you a question, including outside truth you have to answer fully and honestly. If you don't want this dare or you forfit a question then you'll have to...hmm...jump out of a window on the second floor." He had tried to make it so that she couldn't refuse anything but she knew better and grinned.

"I forfit your dare." Yuki's eyes widened as she stood up and made her way into her room, the other players of this now dangerous game followed her.

"Scar-chan! Don't!" Momiji yelled as he pelted up the stairs after her. He wobbled a little on the last step so Scar grabbed his arm and smirked whilst pulling him steady.

"Don't worry Momiji, I have this covered." She continued to walk and opened her bedroom door and turned back to her crowd who were standing nervously at the door. Yuki looked at her grin and narrowed his eyes.

"Your bluffing you wouldn't." Scar raised an eyebrow and lifted the window open and looked down at the 20ft drop. She sat on the windows edge and waved to her audiance who rushed forward to save her as she fell backwards out of the window.


	6. Chapter VI

**Again not so long, but this ones got a bit more information in it, it's kind of a filler, but you learn stuffles :D again please review, I'd honestly appreciate it thank you! **

Chapter VI

The air rushed past Scar as she spoke quickly to herself.

"Caché aile!" She said in a hurried voice and her wings appeared just in time and turned her upright, as she harmlessly stepped down onto the floor.

"Peau." She whispered and her wings dissapeared, she had made sure she was bent backwards so they wouldn't see her small feathery wings as she had fallen. They all gaped openly out of the window at her and she grinned and waved before opening the sliding doors and making a beeline for the sake. She opened the bottle and heartily gluged a quater of it before the others managed to get downstairs.

"SCAR-CHAN!!!" Momiji yelled and rushed forwards to hug her. She knew what would happen, nothing and panicked. She picked Momiji up and held him at arms length and span in a circle with him just before he reached her.

"See, I'm fine!" She said and giggled, drinking more. Momiji dropped out of her arms and walked around her looking for a clue as to why she was OK.

"I just know how to land on my feet OK?" She said to a suspicious Momiji and the occupents of the house who were stood in the doorway looking at her critically.

"And how, pray tell, did you manage that?" Scar rubbed the back of her headsheepishly at Shigure's question.

"Oh, gymnastics. You get used to falling and learn to land on your feet, right?" She almost asked herself, knowing it was barely believeable. Yuki walked upto her with a pained look stretching across his features.

"I'm really sorry. You shouldn't have done something so stupid. If you didn't want to answer the questions you didn't have to, and you shouldn't have gone to such lengths just to avoid it too." Scar nodded and blushed slightly, she knew that she did something stupid but blamed it on alcohol, if she wasn't careful her dulled senses could have got her killed. Tohru ran up and threw herself at Scar, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist.

"Oh Scar-chan, I was so worried, I'm glad your OK!" Scar patted her hair and yawned. Shigure looked at her with a knowing grin which made Scar's eyebrows raise. She didn't want to look at those curious onyx eyes anymore and released Tohru.

"Right then, I'm going bed, arvoír everyone." Scar left abruptly before anyone could respond and hurried up into her bedroom changng quickly thinking about the strange day that she had. She knew her head would kill in the morning but she didn't mind the slightest. She changed quickly into her red teddy again and jumped into the covers trying to sleep with her eyes lightly open becuase when they were closed, boy did the room spin.

As predicted she woke with a headache and a loud knocking noise but she was still thankful that she was drunk enough for her night terrors not to overcome her and leave her waking up in a cold sweat.

"Scar-chan!!" Sang an irritating Shigure through her door.

"Wha..?" She grumbled, her voie barely heard as she spoke into her pillow.

"It's afternoon, time you got up!!" He sang once more to Scar's great annoyence.

"Fuck off." She muttered rolling back into her covers. Shigure opened the door and skipped up to her and pulled the covers off her head.

"Now, now. That's no way to talk to to someone, rise and shining! It's a beautiful day and weve got lunch ready!" Scar opened a bleary eye and stared at him hard.

"Go chew a bone, I'm not getting up." She again grumbled and pulled the cover over her head once more.

"Ok, you asked for it!" His annoying sing-song voice was going to earn him a swift kick if he wasn't careful but Scar was mildly aware of the sound of glass scraping against wood and she knew what he was about do and refused to be covered in cold water. She heard the floorboard creak as he stepped close to her and tipped the glass over her covered body, Scar threw the quilt and used that motion to move the glass backwards slightly, and focused hard on the water about to spill over her and sent it backwards and into Shigure's face. He spluttered and raised an arm to wipe his face as Scar stood and pulled on her black dressing gown. The whole thing had happened so fast that Shigure, as she predicted, thought that the glass had just flown bakwards and he had got himself. He turned to her and she grinned as she walked by him and out of her room and into the bathroom, which was thankfully free. She did her usual morning routine and returned to her room happy to find that Shigure had left but not so happy that he had dripped all over her floor. She closed her door and gingerly picked up the now empty glass and took a deep breath looking at the floor. The small puddle suddenly rose and hovered delicately infront of her face, water was hard to maintain control over becasue it was all free flowng and continuously tried to drip away. Years of practise had left Scar more then proficient at moving water, fire was another thing alltogether. Water you could be calm or angry and still create and move it, fire on the otherhand required acute control, she was able to use it in small bursts but anything like setting a wardorbe on fire she had to use hard anger which could easily let her slip into something more dangerous. The same effect happened if she attempted to set a person on fire, their clothes she could do but, burning a person was so heartless and cruel that the instant she saw a spark hit bare skin she became dangerous.

Her eyes began to water slightly from staring so hard at the water whilst thinking, she quickly blinked and focused hard as a few droplets hit the ground, the water swam around her body as she let it touch her hair removing the water from there too, before directing it all into the glass. She grinned to herself as she pulled out some clean underwear from her bag.

_'Once this gift was supposed to be used to control and command great seas and was meant to be gifted to the man who had saved his whole town when a dam burst, what do I use it for? Drying my hair after a shower.'_ Her sarcastic thoughts made her chuckle as she pulled on her clothes for the day, she wore the same as when she had arrived, some denim shorts and a red tank top. She looked in the mirror and bruched out her hair and checked how well her piercings had healed, her snakebites still looked a little red but not infected, her chest one was fine along withher eyebrow bar. She applied some anticeptic spray to all of them just to be on the safe side and walked downstairs to the smell of lunch.

"Morning." She spoke to the occupents and recieved a mild glare from Kyo.

"Morning?! It's half 1!" Scar chose to ignore him as she took her place next to Yuki and looked down at her plate, just some simple riceballs with a fish filling. She faintly remembered Yuki's answer to the truth he had answered yesterday and grinned picking one up and looking pointedly at Yuki who was blushing hard. Had Tohru purposely made riceballs? Scar didn't care but she watched him nibble on them delicately with the grin still on her face. She looked around the table and noticed the absense of Tohru.

"Where's Tohru-chan?" Scar inquired looked up at Shigure who smiled.

"She went to the market, she wants to make sure she has enough for dinner before she goes work." Scar frowned at him.

"She works?" Shigure took another bite out of his riceballs and nodded, swallowing before answering.

"Oh yes, she wants to pay her own way through school. Speaking of which, I'll be heading to Akito's soon, so I'll be picking up your belongings and I'll ask him about if your attending then." Scar nodded and smiled gratefully, the more she didn't see Akito the better. Lunch was concluded in mostly silence, Momiji annoying Kyo, who went to hit him but saw Scar's dangerous glare and thought better of it. Shigure gathered up the dishes and piled them in the kitchen sink. Scar felt her previous headache ease more after food and decided to go outside and soak in the afternoon sun for a while, having nothing better to do and knowing she would get lost in the city. She walked towards the forest and gave a sidewards glance at the tree she had hid in yesterday, in her messenger form. She continued her stroll taking in the sweet smeel of grass and the dying trees, a glance at the sky told her it would be raining soon and she grinned at the thought of Kyo sulking. She came to a secluded spot and leant her back against a tree whilst staring down the hill that led to the city. Try as hard as she might her thoughts still came back to her beloved Grandma, the woman who had to raise her, who had once suffered from the curse herself until Scar was born. Scar's mother had died giving birth, as all non-cursed women had. It was an endless cycle and the father was always told that the shild had died in birth along with the mother. Scar never really thought about her mother much becasue her Grandma was her mother.

She remembered all the times that her Grandma had trained her and taught her well about how to control her powers and how to become strong. Though the amount of times she wanted to she was never allowed to use any of her training to harm the people who had harmed her. If that was her Grandma's only wish she wouldn't. When it came to the Sohma's she had known about them from birth and the treaty that had been made. If God found her before she was 18 she was his, but he had to look for her himself, he broke the rules and did such a dreadful thing to her Grandma.

Scar felt the tears stream down her face, it had only been a week, and she had released the dangerous side of her when Akito's men showed up with her Grandma and the written treaty and legal documents in hand. She had burned those men alive, she didn't care about her promise then, nor did she care about the rules of Lette. They had died and they had deserved it.

Scar felt her resolve strengthen as she stood tall and took a last look at the horizon before turning round and coming face to face with someone she didn't expect to see.


	7. Chapter VII

**Hey! Sorry, I know it's been a while but well, a lot of shit got real and it ended in a fantastic writers block, but I finished this chapter today and I'm working on the next one now, so that shouldn't be too long a wait either.**

**Thank you for being patient and thank you to Roomofangels, Blehlove and XxPookerxX for reviewing I hope you guys approve :D**

Chapter VII

"Haru!" Scar exclaimed wiping her face free of any tears she had shed previously. Haru looked at her sad face and lifted her chin up.

"What's wrong Scar?" Scar gave him a watery smile and avoided his question.

"What are you doing here Haru? I thought you'd be with Momiji?" Haru frowned knowing she had evaded his question but didn't want to press if she didn't want to answer.

"Kyo and Yuki started fighting so I left, just started walking and ended up here I suppose, want to sit down?" Scar nodded and they both sat down against the tree Scar had previously stood against. She pulled her knees up to her chest and looked out into the horizon. Neither of them said anything for a while, Scar felt her eyes still prickling with the fresh tears that threatened to drop at any moment, she busied herself trying to remember Dance Noir stances, something she did often, which made her a very proficiant fighter. She was so caught up in her thoughts and counting moves that she was startled when she saw a hand infront of her face, holding a hankerchief.

"Here." Haru said passing it to her, she felt her face and realised the tears had fallen and she wiped them steadily taking deep shuddering breaths. You passed him back the white cloth and gave him a faded grin.

"Merci." She thanked him and stared back at the greying sky. She felt his eyes on her and turned to him.

"Haru?" She enquired to his hard stare. He blinked and didn't look away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She looked down at her knees and shook her head.

"I don't think I can. Can I rant to you in french instead?" He didn't looked confused by her demand at all and nodded.

(AN: rather then having me translate it all, I'll just use italics) Scar took a deep breath and started her story.

"_When I was younger, it was all so much easier, I didn't have to worry about this whole treaty thing, I knew that my Grandma would protect me, I knew that I was safe. I was bullied to a point where I refused to look people in the eye and instead grew out my fringe and hid my strange eyes infront of them, not that my hair was any better but I could just pass that off as early aging which isn't too rare nowadays." _Haru's eyes looked at her with interest, he couldn't understand but he could almost grasp what she was saying.

"_Anyway, when I was 16 it all changed, I got into a fight with these men who tried hitting on me on my way home from the shop, it was kind of late so I shouldn't have been walking around but I really wanted to get some extra pasta in for my grandmother, she'd been under the weather and I wanted to cook her something I know she'd enjoy. These guys started leering at me and I told them to get lost then one of them grabbed me, I'd had a bad day so I wasn't in the best of moods, and I totally flipped! I started attacking these guys who were also trying to hit me too, I can't remember how long I'd stood there just throwing punch after punch but eventually they were down and I found myself in custordy, a woman who'd seen everything called the police. Well when I say she'd seen everything she just thought I was attacking these guys for no reason. That's when the police first got my name, my Grandma came to collect me and even though she was angry at me, she was proud of my skills. We both didn't think that the police getting my name would make any difference, the rules of the treaty were that God had to find me by himself. That tiny and stupid act ended up with me here and my Grandmother..._" She trailed off as she stood taking a deep shuddering breath before continuing.

"_Akito got hold of the record of it happening, and through the police force, bribing them with too much money I imagine, got hold of my location and met with my Grandma about 6 months after the incident, when I had turned 17, to tell her that I had been found. He had always picked the meeting place and when he chose the south of france she knew we were in trouble. She also knew the rules, and tried to smuggle me out of the country but the police were looking for a girl matching my discription. That's when she caught on, she knew he had gotten the police involved. He rang us whilst we were at the airport and said he would meet us at our home. She took me home and waited for him to show up, knowing that my best chance of protection would be there. He arrived and he was nothing like I thought he would be, he brought 6 men with him, they all looked murderous and proffesional too, I knew that fighting them wouldn't be as easy as fighting some drunk idiots who wanted a grope. My Grandma sent me into my room and told me to wait there, Akito looked like he'd been invited round for drinks rather then about to destroy my life just so I could part of his fucking collection!" _Scar smashed her fist into the tree as she paced around running her hands through her hair as she relived the memories for the first time.

_" I heard yelling and the sound of things being trashed, I got scared I hid. I didn't want to come to terms with my stupid treaty. I cried and when I heard a window shatter it felt like it gave me strength I left my closet and went to run out of my room when I saw Akito and two of his men standing at my door. Akito smiled at me, my knees buckled and knew that the worse had happened. He just fucking smiled! Then he said in the calmest voice ever to get my bags packed. He walked away and I sat there not knowing what to do, the two men stood at the door blocking my escape or so it seemed, I knew I couldn't go against the treaty because the treaty isn't just words it's blood it's wrote into our very being to be controlled by the treaty, it was my God and the winner, either me or him would be God over the cursed form. I began to pack my things I tried to not do it but it didn't work, I just moved without meaning to. It felt easier, I kept looking at the window willing myself to jump out the thing, either to kill myself or to fly away. When I finished packing the men walked upto me and both of them held there arms behind their backs, which I didn't think was weird but when the biggest one pulled his arms infront of him...I couldn't breathe, I couldn't see straight. It was...IT WAS MY GRANDMA'S FUCKING HEAD!" _The tears streamed down her face as Scar openly raged and flung her hands up, the mere words felt like she was coming to terms with it, she raked her nails down her cheeks and pulled at her own hair in pure anger.

_"THEY DROPPED IT AT MY FUCKING FEET! LIKE IT WAS TRASH, THAT WAS THE WOMAN WHO HAD RAISED ME! I FUCKING LOVED HER! I FELT IT COMING, AND I DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO STOP IT, I KILLED THEM I BURNED THEM ALIVE I STUFFED MY HAND DOWN THERE FUCKING THROATS AND CHOKED THEM!"_ Scar took a shuddering breath and fell to her knees her rage almost leaving her.

_"Then I went after Akito, the bastard told me I couldn't attack him and to stop being angry, I stopped, there was nothing I could do, he told me to meet him at his home next monday. He gave me his address and left. There was nothing I could do, I couldn't hurt him, It was torture. After I threw up I buried her and slept next to her grave for most of the week, the police didn't do a thing I think he payed them off again, even though people were called and my house was a state for anyone to see. And now, I'm here."_ She took a deep breath and rested her head on Haru's thigh, she felt his hand touch her hair and smooth it out, running his fingers through it. She sobbed quietly into his leg and clutched fistfuls of grass, digging her hands into the dirt. After a while Haru finally broke the silence once her sobs had died.

"Do you feel any better?" Scar nodded glumly and sat up, inbetween his knees.

"Merci, for listening to me Haru-kun." Haru gave her a final smile and held her hand.

"It's OK, I didn't get it but I knew you needed a rant, so it's fine. Are you cold?" Scar didn't want to go in yet and knew that he would suggest it if she was, so she shook her head.

"No? Then why do you have goosebumps? Here." He said shrugging off his leather jacket and wrapping it round her shoulders.

"Merci, did you honestly not mind listening to all of that?" She asked rubbing her head a little sheepishly.

"No, but when your ready to translate it just let me know." She smiled at his gentle tone and craned her neck forward and kissed his cheek. He looked at her steadily, her huge ruby eyes still glistening with old tears. Haru ran his thumb across her cheek and wiped the dried streaks from her face. She smiled at him softly before resting against his leg again.

"Shigure left to go and get your stuff by the way, he said he'll be back later on." Scar nodded and looked back out to the sky. The silence stretched on for a while before Scar broke it with a wistful question.

"Hey Haru, have you ever wondered what it'd be like to fly?" Haru looked up at the sky and sighed a little.

"Sometimes, I think a lot, it's one of the things I think about too. The sky looks endless, and looking at it like this does make you wish you could fly out and into it I guess." Scar smiled and nodded at his answer.

"Yeah it does. Hey, if I ever learn how to fly, I'll take you with me one day OK?" He grinned at her answer.

"Likewise, who knows, it might cheer you up." She playfully smacked his knee and gave him a mock glare which quickly faltered and turned into a broad grin. Scar rested against him for sometime, almsot feeling like she was dropping off to sleep and before she knew it she did.

Haru hadn't noticed and when he lowered his eyes from the dim sky to look at her he saw her snoozing peacefully on his leg. He smiled a litte. _'She deserves some sleep. Akito did something to her and whatever happened, if he was involved it's not good.'_ He noticed her shuddering, her unvcovered legs covered in goosebumps. Gingergly, he shuffled an arm underneath her shoulders and another one under her knees and hoisted her up, careful to keep her far enough away from his chest so he didn't transform. He carried her back to the house which, thankfully, was in sight from where they were sitting. The sky had started to spit rain as he reached the porch and he was glad he had decided to leave when he did, as he nudged the door open with his foot the rain began to fall harder. He knew he'd find a moping kitty somewhere around the house but first decided it would be best to put Scar to bed. Haru's eyes cast down upon her sleeping form and a frown came to his lips. _'I don't know how but shes so restless. Even when she sits its like she needs to move, its strange.'_ His thoughts were interrupted as he opened the door to her room and finally had a look around.

It wasn't anything special, just the spare room that had always been there but Haru started to see it in a new light. He looked down to the girl in his arms and laid her gently on the bed and pulled the quilt upto her torso. He sighed as he looked at her, she was unnaturally tired since she'd been her, maybe it was jetlag or maybe it could be something to do with what he told her, she had just gotten here afterall and that means that Akito cant be too far behind in her past to actually make her this desperately tired from long ago. It had to have been a recent incident. He looked up at her ace once more then turned to leave the room.

"Oh Haru, what are you doing in here?" Shigure asked as he stumbled into her room with a box. Haru hushed him and pointed to the sleeping girl and helped him lift the box. They put it down as gently as they could and Shigure ushered him out of the room, no doubt to help with more of the stuff she had bought with her.

"She fell asleep outside, so I brought her in and took her to bed." Haru answered at Shigure's inquisitive glnce, as they both walked to the front door where Shigure had taken all of Scar's belongings out of Hitori's car.

"Ah, I see. Ever the gentleman Haru, now how do you mind being a gentleman again and helping me carry this stuff upto Scar's room for me?" Haru nodded and lifted up a box and a giant bag and began the slightly hazardous journey of hauling Scar's belongings to her room. After about half an hour and nearly waking up the sleeping girl twice they finally got everything into her room.

"We'll help her unpack it later if she likes." Haru nodded not wanting to point out that Shigure had not even asked him. They both sat down and Tohru, who had returned from shoppin and had just finished packing away the groceries with the help of Yuki, brought them a pot of tea and sat down with the two zodiac, Yuki shortly joining her.

"Where's Scar-chan?" Tohru asked looking at the two curiously. Shigure took a dutiful sip of his tea and smacked his lips before replying.

"Oh, she fell asleep. How was shopping my little flower?" Tohru smiled and clasped her hands together.

"It was good Shigure-san! I have some new dishes to try out tonight!" Shigure smiled and took another sip of his tea.

"Well, I am looking forward to that! Your cooking never ceases to bring me to tears Tohru-chan! You will make a splendid wife one day!" Tohru looked confused and turned to Yuki, a worried look plastered across her face.

"I make Shigure-san cry?" Yuki smiled softly at the slightly dim girl.

"No Honda-san. He means that its very good." Tohru blinked at him then smiled.

"Ah! Well thats great! Thank you Shigure-san!" She gave him a pleasant smile and a slight bow and returned to her tea. Haru looked boredly on and glanced at his cup, he took a sip of the very sweet tea and thought back to last night where Scar had been drunk, now that was the sort of drink he wanted served when he'd got home from a long day, none of this tea crap. Haru almost smiled at the thought that maybe he had a raging alcoholic inside of him waiting to burst out.

"So did you see Akito today then?" Yuki asked politely trying not to spit the name as it passed his lips.

"As a matter of fact i did." Shigure said looking carefully at Yuki whilst pouring himself another cup of tea. "He thinks that Scar should go to school and stay here too, he gave me a lot of money for her keep, a lot more then he normally would too, it almost felt like a bribe..." Shigure trailed off and gave a quick glance at the ever confused Tohru, and smiled wide and made a big arm gensture, swiftly distracting Tohru from questioning the statement.

"So it looks like Scar-chan will be staying with us for a while!" He sang happily and took another sip of tea and gave an over exagurated sigh of pleasure. His face smiling, but in his mind the cogs were working hard,


	8. Chapter VIII

**Another one up! I'm feeling rather proud of myself, ever since I've started using my awfully old computer more rather then my fast-ass laptop, I'm writing more and getting a lot more done too! I feel rather proud! :D Already halfway through chapter 9, so expect that up tomorrow or the day after. **

**Please review, becasue I think its pretty damn awesome when you do ;) lovelove and ting! xxx**

Chapter VIII

The days passed quickly for Scar, her head and her heart heavy, grudgingly making preperations for the school she didn't want to attend, taking an apititude test and passing with a decent score, she was quickly enrolled, a uniform bought and the last belonging of hers brought to her which was the only high point of the week.

"What is it Scar?" Yuki asked as Scar gleefully walked around the giant crate, crowbar in hand and a look of poor unadulterated joy cascading her features.

"My baby!" Yuki and Haru were standing outside and both had confused expressions as Scar raised the crowbar over head and brought it down on one of the sides of the crate, quickly breaking it. She hastily wrenched the top off and used her foot to kick out the other sides of the box, there stood a gleaming black motorbike, Scar ran over to it and straddled it rubbing her cheek along the handlebars.

"A motorbike? Are you kidding me?" Kyo yelled from the roof, where he had been watching with little attention.

"OUI!" She squealed and pulled the keys from her pocket, which she had stuffed them in after seeing the crate arrive. She giggled as the engine came to life and revved it a few time, kicking off the brake and kicking the gear into first from neuteral and lifting the front wheel off the ground as she rode down the hill.

"SCAR!" Yuki yelled, picking up the discarded helmet that was left in the crate. Scar heard his voice and turned the bike heading back up the short path and coming to a brake infront of Yuki, centimeters from Yuki's face, he jumped back in shock and glared at the girl, stroking the leather seats and the purring engine.

"Oui, Yuki-kun?" She said sweetly, Yuki ground his teeth and thrust the helmet out towards Scar.

"Don't forget this!" He dropped it into her hands as he stood and stomped his way inside. Scar giggled and thrust the black helmet on her head and took off again, this time driving circles around Haru whilst the boy stood transfixed, turning his head quickly to glimpse Scar's red eyes, where she hadn't put the shutter down. Shigure came outside glasses perched on his nose and a paper in his hands,

"SCAR!" She stopped and pulled off her helmet shaking her hair loose.

"What now? Can't a girl ride in peace?" Her eyes were staring hard at Shigure, daring him to challange her.

"Don't ride that thing in the garden, go towards the lake, theres some tracks there that you can go crazy on, and leave Haru alone!" Scar grinned and nodded, a mischievious look in her eyes.

"Alright then." She grabbed Haru and pulled him onto the bike and gave him her helmet and took off quickly.

"Haru put your arms round my waist!" She yelled over the roar of her bike. Haru panicked slightly, if he touched her wrong they'd crash with the force of him transforming into a cow. Scar realised the problem with this and grunted as she took a jump over a small hill and quickly released one of the handlebars and grabbed Haru's hands, putting them on her waist. She moved her hand back to the handlebars in time and Haru jolted forward and his chest went straight into her back. He gasped hard and was getting ready to throw himself off the bike when nothing happened. He was still stuck against her back and he was not transforming. Somethng was clearly wrong.

After a while they reached the tracks that Shigure was talking about and stopped, Haru for fear of transforming hadn't moved, and when Scar got off the bike, kicking down the kickstand, he still half expected to transform. Scar, by the looks of it hadn't realised anything was wrong, and looked at him strangely as he carefully stepped away from the bike, taking hard breaths.

"Whats wrong?" She asked him gently as his chest heaved. He looked at her hard and pulled the helmet off staring at her with a mad lok in his eyes. He stepped towards her and Scar felt herself take a tentative step back, unsure of what was wrong with him.

"Haru..?" She asked gently, watching as he came closer to her, putting the helmet on the bike. He stopped a few milimeters from her face and looked into her worried crimson orbs.

"Did I go a little too fast for you or some-thing?" Her thick french accent getting a little stuck on the last word, confused with the way his eyes were boring into hers. Then he did something that she wasn't expecting. He grabbed her arms and pulled her into a hug. She panicked and went to shove him away instantly, but his grip held onto her tightly and she realised that it was too late, he knew. She felt tears begin to form in her eyes and let them drip down her face as he breathed in deeply, her scent, the warmth of her body and the feel of her long hair tickling his face, buried in the curve of her neck, was something so new.

"Scar." He said after what felt like an age, of standing there and holding her. "Why aren't I transforming?" His voice was a bare whisper and he never released her whilst he spoke in her shoulder.

"I-I'm not allowed to tell you Haru...Akito he'll-" The grip tightened.

"Fuck Akito, tell me...please Scar?" Scar sighed and turned her head slowly and kissed his cheek.

"I don't think I can Haru, I'm not supposed to." Haru pulled her away enough to look at her face but kept his hands on her shoulders.

"Please Scar, I won't tell anyone, I need to know, your the first girl I've ever been able to touch that wasn't a member of my family, please tell me I need to know." He pulled close again and she felt the heavy burden of those words. She stepped away from his warm embrace, already craving it.

"I'm like you." His eyes were confused for a moment before he tentatively replied.

"How? Your not a member of the zodiac, they've all been born." Scar nodded and sighed,

"I'm not the zodiac but I am cursed, just like the rest of you. It's why Akito wanted to find me so much. I'm almost like a missing link that he needed, and I can heal him with my presence." Haru still looked confused, Scar stepped back and sighed.

"Scar, I don't understand, your cursed?" He tried to step close again, the feel of contact so addictive, but Scar took back another step staring hard into his eyes.

"God's link from heaven to the animals that lived below him was a simple bird he took and turned into a messenger and he told that bird to whisper to one of thirteen animals about the banquet." Realisation struck Haru like a stone.

"Chinese whispers." He practically mouthed and looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Ruby eyes and hair like white silk...gifted with flight and water, cursed with fire and hate. The messenger of heaven." She recieted smothely, her eyes betraying her tone, as fresh tears sprung forth, tears of self loathing for the monster that she was, and the lonliness she had felt by never being able to touch.

Haru stared agape at her, she had a cursed form too. His heart leapt to his throat as he realised more meaning to the words.

"Fire and water?" Scar sighed and walked calmly towards the lake, her eyes misting over slightly as she did. Haru followed and stood behind her as she took a deep breath and turned around to face him.

"Scar-" She quickly put a finger to his lips and took steps backward, he reached out for her as her foot collided with the water, there was no movement on the water as she stepped backward, not even a ripple, her misty eyes took on a strange and almost ethereal look as she stood still on the edge of the lake. Scar took Haru's hands and then pulled him onto the lake with her, her eyes never leaving his as they both stood on the lake walking backwards.

The moment was tense and nothing disturbed them as they made their way to the centre of the lake, eyes couldn't leave each other and hearts practically beating as one.

"Water and fire...it's my gift and my curse, the water is strong on it own and needs nothing to survive, the fire feeds off my anger and makes me dangerous. It's the curse of not being able to control my emotions, if I get angry I'll become the most disgusting creature. I was to deliver the power of water and was told to retrive the power of fire from a man who wasn't worthy, holding them both killed a bird. It barely leaves me human, that's how the bird died and ended up with both powers." Haru tilted his head as he took in her words, they weren't only a little hard to believe but also hard to take in. She sighed and took a moment before smiling at him gently.

"Haru, look down." He looked and blinked hard making sure he was seeing what he though he was seeing. The water beneath him was seemingly bottomless, he took in a sharp breath and stepped backwards letting go of Scar's hand.

"Wait!" She cried out to him as he fell down into the lake. She shielded herself and made sure none of the water hit her and crouched down as Haru broke through the surface, gasping for air.

"I tried to warn you!" She said trying to smother her laughter but failing miserably. Haru glared at her slightly as he tredded the water, though not looking as intimidating, whilst he was in the water and she was standing on it.

"Are you done?" He asked raising an icredulous eyebrow at her, at that point a fish jumped out of the water and hit him in the face scaring him into ducking back down into it, arms flailing.

"Fuck!" She laughed again, tears streaming from her eyes as she clutched at her stomach, now sitting on the floor because she couldn't stand with THAT kind of comedy. Haru rose again and whipped his hair out of his eyes, she snorted at him and then sank promptly into the water herself.

"SHIT!" She screamed as sank beneath the surface momenterily. Haru laughed hard as her flailing limbs brought her to the surface again.

"I thought you controlled water?" He teased, raising an eyebrow at her again, a shit eating smirk plastered on his face. She glared and took a deep breath, closing her eyes, before placing her hands firmly on the surface of the water and dragging herself out like she was at the edge of a pool. Haru had began swimming back to the lake edge and she walked slowly over to him, as he sat in the sun staring hard at her. As she got closer he began to pulling off his top and pulled the damp cloth over his head, wringing it and flapping it in the air attempting to dry it out a little.

Scar gulped hard at the sight of Haru's deliciously exposed skin, he had a tattoo on the top of his left arm and one she could see wrapping around from his right shoulder onto his other arm. She felt a warm feeling begin between her legs which sent a shiver down her spine, no way would she let this phase her damnit! She took a hard breath and saw that she has sank into the water again but being at the edge it was only at her ankles. She rolled her eyes at her lack of self control and stepped out of the water and sat down next to Haru.

"So you got all wet just for me?" She teased and raised a hand, pulling all of the water out of her clothes and hair. He frowned at her and she smiled at him a little.

"Come here." He shuffled towards her and felt all the water being pulled from his clothes, skin and hair. She smiled gently at him and kissed his cheeks.

"Is that better chérie?" She asked him softly and he nodded and grabbed her hand pulling her back with him and onto his chest, she stiffened for a moment, the fear of transforming getting to her for a moment, then relaxed against his chest and breathed in his soothing scent. The water that had drenched them she was making lazy patterns across the sky with it, turning it into a bird, then making a small stormwhirl and then transforming it into a ballarina making it dance above their heads. Haru watched with interest as her delicate hand did this then noticing her long sleeve had fallen down, revealing scars.

He stiffened for a moment and stared at them hard, they were pale and almost blended into her skin, barely noticeable, but then he realised that her skin wasn't just skin, what he thought was scars was actually the remainder of her normal skin, the rest was scar tissue, zigg-zagging and whole strips of her flesh removed. It almost sickened him, but then he realised that it was _her_ skin, and she had been hurt in ways that he couldn't even begin to comprehend.

Haru said nothing but pulled her closer, she waved her hand towards the lake a final time and the aqua ballarina skimed the surface of the lake before joining the rewst of the water. She laid her hand down on Haru's chest and unconciously pulled her sleeve back up, it was a defence to stop people seeing, he recognised that now, he knew it must have taken a lot of strength to wear tops that didnt cover her arms. Seeing how pale her skin was now, he realised it must not have been hard, when the scars faded to practically her own skin colour, they barely showed.

Scar felt better then she had since her Grandmothers untimely death, her heart felt like a weight had been lifted, now that someone knew her secret that didn't want to use her, she had found a friend in an unlikely place, a place where she thought she would be alone.

"Scar?" She was broken out of her thoughts by Haru's tentative voice, she propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him.

"What is it?" He sighed and sat up too, though still touching her with his knees, afraid to break the contact again.

"I was just wondering...you have a cursed form, is it like ours? And why were you in france?" Scar sighed and sat up fully, and span round on her behind to face him.

"Well, I'm a bird, a sort of peacock I guess, I'm white just like my hair and with the same eyes. If a boy hugs me, whose not cursed, then I'll change into said form." She drew herself up fully, smile leaving her face a little at the prospect of re-telling the story. "About 800 or so years ago, the God of the zodiac, was pretty much the same as your God. Cruel. The messenger of heaven had found out something, if they stayed away from God for a period of time, that God would always end up sick. The messenger of heaven realised this would be a way to punish God for being cruel, they ran away. Then the third was born and the original messenger of heaven lost their powers as it was transferred onto the new one." Haru frowned, something clearly confused him by the story. Scar smiled and pushed her hair behind her ears as she began to explain.

"You see, when your born, there's a chance you'll be the zodiac, but its random, where as the messenger of heaven, the woman has a daughter, the daughter has another daughter then dies giving birth to that daughter as the powers are transferred. Because the powers of fire and and water will kill a normal human so the transference kills the mother instantly. The grandmother loses most of their power, but keeps a little, which fades as the new messenger grows stronger and also as the grandmother grows older. Does that make sense?" Haru nodded solemnly frowning slightly.

"But what if a boy is born?" Scar smiled and rested her hand upon Haru's.

"Oh, that's never happened, nothing but screaming bundles of female joy!" She giggled slightly and stroked her thumb across Haru's larger palm. He looked down and became a little transfixed with her touch.

"So you were saying about the move to france?" Scar pulled away her hand, a little abashed, and continued her story.

"Ah! Yes, sorry, right like I was saying, the third was born and then the grandmother met with God and a treaty was formed, the messenger of heaven wouldn't go back to God unless God found her. But, God had to do this on their own, they couldn't have outside help, and they weren't allowed to use the money they had at their disposal through police and other such means. So finding her was supposed to be difficult, but God agreed that the messenger had every right to feel hurt by the way they were treated and assumed it would be easy to find the new messenger, so agreed to draw up a blood treaty, if the messenger could be found before their 18th birthday then the messenger would belong to God. If not they were allowed to be free, God had the grandmother of the messenger followed, already breaking the rules, but the grandmother was clever and had lived out the remainder of her years on a small island, thousands of miles away from the new messenger, who was being raised by the dad of the messenger, who doted on his wife and understood the importance of the secret. I'm not sure where they lived they were very rarely allowed above ground, they hid in a secret house underneath another home, the daughter wasn't allowed in the light until her 18th birthday where the contract was null and void. In the recent hundred years, it was thought that God had given up on finding the messenger, and then the daughters were eventually allowed to live above ground too. Which is around my era and also why I come from France." Haru had listened with rapt attention and nodded to her looking a little unsure for words at the lengthy history her curse had.

"Wow. That's a long history, so can I ask you one more question?" Scar nodded dutifully and smiled at him softly.

"Of course. What is it?" Haru drew himself up a little more and stared at her hard. He looked a little unsure of himself and cast his eyes down to where their hands were inches apart.

"Haru what is it?" She asked him gently, worried about what question he wanted to ask that seemed to be bothering him. "You can ask me anything, I'll be honest with you." He took a breath before raising his head and staring hard into her eyes.

"What's your story?" Scar flinched.


	9. Chapter IX

**I cannot profusely apologise enough for this being late. I promised this months ago, but three things happened. I got a new router (which was non-returnable) which my current ancient computer wouldn't pick up. I had to wait until after xmas when I got a new netbook, which works for my internet, is pretty, but crashes all the time it completely freezes (the bf says its something to do with this thing having windows 7 and only being fast enough to run XP) so writing this is a royal pain. I've had to do this chapter twice today because it froze and I didn't save it in time (nearly resulted in this thing being thrown out of a window ¬_¬ ) and ofcourse the ever present excuse of writers block, I've been lacking inspiration for sometime too, which has been a real bastard to find again.**

**I am incredibly sorry to everyone for not updating and I know my reasons are lame, but unfortuantely not much I could do, I promise to try and update a lot more regularly now.**

**On that note, this isnt a very long chapter but it's a bit of an opener to knew ideas, which I'm so happy to finally put into words. Please do review, I love to hear your thoughts! And a very VERYYYYY big thank you to all the people who have faved and added me to your story alerts, you guys are freaking awesome! :D **

**I won't bore you anymore, please enjoy, and be happy in the knowledge that I am continuing to write the second this one is uploaded. xxx**

Chapter IX

"I don't know if I'm ready to talk about that yet Haru, it's really hard for me." Haru gathered her up in his arms and cradled her against his chest.

"It's OK, its kind of why I didn't want to ask, but take your time with telling me, well, you don't ever have to tell me-" She closed her hand around his mouth and giggled.

"It's fine! I'll tell you one day, but I need to deal with it in my head more first." He nodded and cuddled her towards him, she smiled and rubbed her head on his chest.

"You ready to go?" Haru asked and Scar pouted slightly.

"Yeah...but I don't wanna go back there, it's so boring! I want a drink, not tea!" Haru laughed, and kissed the top of her head.

"I couldn't agree more, I have an idea, why don't we get a few drinks in, hole ourselves up in your room, or mine and drink until we pass out, to celebrate your getting into school?" Scar grinned and flung her arms around his neck knocking them both backwards.

"That sounds amazing! Let's do it!" Haru grinned as she kissed his cheeks repeatedly, in the manner he had become acustomed to, but with more childish glee then he had seen the girl possess in all her time with the zodiac.

"OK, so how do we _get_ the drink?" Haru smirked and looked up at the sky, a lazy smirk creeping to his face before he replied.

"You just leave that to me, now let's get back." Scar nodded and stood, holding her hand out for Haru, he pulled himself up and pulled her into another fierce embrace.

"I'm quite enjoying being able to touch you..." He whispered in her ear, and her heart spluttered against her chest at the _other_ meaning of those words. Scar pulled away and looked at his face, raising a delicate eyebrow.

"Tease." She whispered and smirked as his face broke into a cocky grin. She giggled and pulled him over to her bike, handing him the helmet as she stradled her vehicle.

"Let's go then, I do believe you owe me a drink!" She half teased and waited for him to cuddle upto her back, arms wrapped round her waist, before she kicked her gears and the kickstand off, turning into first gear and taking off with a roar. Scar giggling and whooping at the joy of being back on her beloved bike, Haru just content to hold onto her, but also with a slight thrill like being at an amusement park still coursing through him.

They soon arrived back at Shigure's and Haru helped Scar move her bike into the shed. With the bike's key ring spinning around her finger, Scar lef the way back upto the house, stopping short outside the door to turn to Haru.

"So whats the plan chérie?" Haru smiled and ran a hand through his hair, giving a quick glance to the door and windows, making sure no one was watching them before replying in a low voice.

"Wait in your room, I'll be back in about an hour, do something to keep you occupied, and I'll meet you there with drink. OK?" Scar nodded and threw her arms around Haru, planting a kiss on his cheek and giggling slightly then watched as the boy walked down the road and away into the town.

Scar smirked and opened the door, taking off her shoes she wandered into the front room and spotted Tohru and Yuki talking.

"Salut chéris." She said as she unceramoniously sat on the sofa and gave a wolfish grin to Yuki, who still appeared to be annoyed at her for her earlier attempt on his life.

"Hello Scar! Did you have fun on your motorbicycle?" Scar smiled and turned her attention to Tohru, resting her arms on the tops of the sofa.

"A motorbike Tohru, and yes I did, had a ride around the lake with Haru." Yuki frowned and glanced around before turning a harsh eye back onto Scar.

"Where is Haru? You didn't leave him at the lake did you?" Scar grinned at him and tapped her finger to her lips, feigning thinking.

"Hmm...did I leave him at the lake..? Did I leave him at the lake...?" She crossed her arms over her chest and scrunched up her eyes in thought. All the while Yuki was looking more and more annoyed.

"Uhh...no." She grinned at Yuki's peeved expression. "Of course I didn't! I'm not mean! He's gone out, said he'd be back in an hour. Honestly Yuki have some faith in your fellow family." She stood and walked out nonchalently waving to Tohru.

"Bye Tohru-_chan._" She said in a teasing voice, walking up the stairs to her room, leaving Yuki to fume silently, lest he worry Tohru by screaming the profanities he wanted to at Scar's retreating form.

Upon reaching her room Scar flung herself on the bed and giggled hard, feeling her contained joy practically bursting from her chest, she had made a real friend who knew about her weirdness and hadn't judged her, she could hug a man and a pretty gorgeous one at that and she was getting drunk with said man in an hour or so. Life was really looking up.

Scar looked around her room, things had changed slightly since she had moved in properly and unpacked her stuff, her clothes had been put away in the wardrobes, though what she had previously worn the day before had been haphazardly thrown on the floor, her giant standing mirror had been put into its place the opposite side from her bed, her thick red bed sheets, the specially made crimson silk ones her grandma had gotten her as part of her 17th birthday present. Then there was the picture of her and her grandma, when Scar couldn't have been older then 6, her bright face and short white hair pinned up messilly, her grandmas matching hair but with pinkening eyes stood next to her arm wrapped around her small form, crouching slightly and smiling wide.

Her grandmother had been a little hard on her, but would always be there for here like the times she was bullied at school, just always there to hold her and tell her that she was beautiful and so special. Scar felt fresh tears spring to her eyes at the memories this picture included, the memories it always would.

Wiping her eyes, she sprung out of her bed and decided now would be the oppourtune time to change clothes. She opened her closet and looked for something to wear for the nights fun, she realised that it would only be her and Haru and for some reason that started a peculiar tingling sensation in her stomach and a warmth pooling between her legs. Scar recongised the feeling and paused, placing a dress back on the hanger, she stood stock still for a few moments her mind racing.

_No...I couldn't possibly! I've known him for less then a week! I've barely spoke to him, he seems so recluse! But still...today, it just sent all of these butterflies throughout my whole body, fuck my stomach it was everywhere! Tingles where he held my hands, the feel of him pressed up against me and when he took off his shirt...whoa now cátin! Stop right there! I will behave! Godamn I will be on my best behavior, Haru has been sweet enough to go and buy alcohol for me, the least I can do is reapy him with my good intentions...GOOD intentions!" _She mentally screamed as her mind started up scenarios of her 'good' intentions.

Scar shook her head, hoping to rid the bad thoughts and flung herself head first onto her bed and moaned into her pillow. Once her maons had died down, she raised her head off the bed and blew the hair out of her face as she climbed up and spotted what she could wear on the floor.

_Good intentions eh? Screw it._ She pulled her nightwear off the floor and grinned, she knew that this would cross some boundries but this was the first guy she'd ever been able to hold. There was too much to gain, and the drinking would help with her half formed idea too. She grinned and stripped quickly and changed into her lacy red teddy with matching underwear and threw on her black silk dressing gown on top of it all.

She checked her standing clock and saw that she still had a good 3 quaters of an hour to wait. She sighed and pulled her book from the top of her dresser, Of mice and men by John Steinbeck. Her fingers thumbed the pages as she found her place and continued reading, occasionally glancing at the clock.

Eventually she became immersed in the story and began to focus more on the talented writer, rather then the ticking clock on the otherisde of the room. The story had always interested her in a slightly sick way, like a serial killer with its victims.

Sooner then she had anticipated there was a knock on her door, her grin widened as she flung her book back onto her desk and stood smoothing out her dressing gown.

The person at her door was one she did not know by name, but recognised vaugly from the brief glance of him she got at the main Sohma house.

"This is from Akito." He thrust a letter in Scar's hand and walked away before she could speak. Scar felt her heart splutter against her chest just hearing the name and realising the contents of this letter could spell horrific disaster.

The letter wasn't marked and the envelope sealed hastily, Scar was unsure if she could open it. Taking a deep breath she tore it open in one swift movement and pulled out the letter before she could change her mind.

_You are a liar. You swore to me that you wouldn't tell anyone about your curse or your terrible powers. You will report to the main house at noon tomorrow for apt punishment._

Scar sank against the door and whimpered, she couldn't fight his control, it was blood contracted. For the second time in her life she was truley scared. Hiding in that closet in her home was not in comparisson to this yes, but the idea of waiting until tomorrow to see him was terrifying. She knew the wait would kill her slowly, having nothing to do until then would frighten her more, she needed to do something to keep her busy and knock her out, the lackof sleep would do no one any good. Scar almost laughed at the first thought half formed thought that popped into her head, about Haru and the promise of alcohol.

Suddenly, her mind clicked. Haru was late, Akito knew about her showing Haru the cursed form and her water based power. All of it added up perfectly, there was simply no other logical explination, Akito couldn't have possibly found out any other way. No one else could have known.

Scar felt tears prick at her eyes and brushed them back angrily, she had trusted him, never telling anyone before him, not even having any friends to tell. She thought that they could have been friends, could have formed a bond, heck, she even had had a slight crush on him. She would have begged for the first chance to develop it into something more.

But it was too late, the inevitable had happened. Haru had reported to Akito that she had told him about her curse and given him the back story. She felt crushed and oddly humiliated, he had ran to his God at the first sign of danger. He broke her trust, and she so easily fell for his humane desires to long to touch a member of the opposite sex outside of his family, she had wanted nothing more.

Haru was going to pay dearly, of this Scar was certain.


	10. Chapter X

**Well, the last chapter was uploaded about a thousand years ago by fanfiction standards and I am very sorry, I've moved home twice and I moved again on Friday and I finally have a place with Internet! **

**It took me a long time to find all of this, seeing as I've had a new computer since the last time I updated, and the old netbooks screen broke, meaning I had to hook it up to a monitor (something I didn't have) just to get all of my old stuff off. Never buy a netbook, if you are reading this on a netbook, you must destroy it. You know it's the right decision.**

**Anyway I want to thank all the new people who have been following/favoriting/alerting this story, I truly appreciate it and thank you all so much for your patience. **

Chapter X

Scar felt her fist tighten around the note Akito had sent her. The slightly satisfying sound of the paper crushing between her hands led her to crush it into a ball and hold it tightly in her right fist, abruptly setting it on fire. She stared hard as the flames burnt the paper to nothingness in her hand, yet almost afraid to touch her skin, as if they would be called back into hiding if they did.

Scar threw the ashes into her bin and stood, pulling on her dressing gown, which had slipped mostly off her body when she sank to the floor, she breathed deeply through her flared nostrils and began to pace near her bed.

How could she possibly get him back for this? Stealing the alcohol he bought (if he ever had any intention to buy any at all) would be a given. She was taking his booze or his life tonight; he didn't have much of a choice.

Scar felt her rage building with every step she wore into her carpet, she forced herself to sit on the edge of her bed and take deep breaths to calm the oncoming change she could feel.

She glanced at the mirror and felt her panic rise; her hair had started to turn red. It was a light pinkish hue, and she knew that if she didn't force herself to calm down right now, then terrible things would happen.

Her eyes scanned the room quickly for anything that would help, she spotted her hair tie on her desk and quickly pulled it round her wrist and snapped it a few times, her eyes glued to her hairs reflection in the mirror. Nothing was changing and she could feel herself getting slightly more frustrated, this called for the drastic method of bleeding it out.

Scar opened her bedside draw and pulled out a simple carving knife, she pulled up her sleeve and glanced briefly at the pale scar tissue taking up most of her forearm.

And though it sickened her to do so, she dug the blade into her flesh and swept it underneath her skin, pulling off a strip of flesh. The craft knife clattered to the floor as Scar balled her fist into her mouth to stifle her screams. It hurt more than anything else, but it was required. A simple cut could enrage her more, immense blood and pain shocked her back into her normal self. It was a horrible thing to do to herself, but it was her only option, she had tried so many others too.

Scar felt the tears roll down her face before she knew she had started to cry and then her crying turned into full sobs and then wails. It hurt so much, she hated everything but was in too much pain to feel anymore anger, so instead she let out her bottled up frustrations in the only way she could right now.

After what seemed hours of screaming hysterically into the floor she managed to gather herself up and hold her damaged arm in front of her and gingerly picked the craft knife up from the floor and threw it into the draw and grabbed the antiseptic, gauze wrap and bandages there, placed for this very reason.

She grabbed the water off the side and poured it onto her heavily bleeding arm, she grit her teeth to stop herself from making anymore noise, but a grunt of pain still escaped her clenched jaw. She used her lips to help unscrew the cap off the antiseptic gel and squeezed it onto the gauze, using a finger to rub it in before placing it on her open wound.

Fresh tears sprang forth and another scream escaped her lips, she held it there for a moment longer, afraid of it hurting more. Eventually, she picked up the bandages and wrapped them around her arm keeping the gauze in place. She fell against her bed and felt more tears come, she let them silently run down her face, but a knock on her door interrupted her.

She hastily wiped her face and pulled on her dressing gown again, to hide her wound. She opened her door a creek and saw a grinning Haru, holding two plastic bags and trying to step inside, but stopped at the look on Scar's face.

"What's wrong?" He asked tentatively stepping back, to get a better look at her tear streaked face. Scar glared and swung the door open full force, making Haru jump back.

"Scar?" She took hard steps towards him and screamed in his face,

"Salaud de trahison!" Haru stared, confused at the language he didn't understand and the hateful tone that she used. Scar felt her fist automatically tighten and swung it back, landing a punch to his cheek.

Haru fell backwards and crashed into the wall behind him, his expression was hard, yet somewhat calm as he pushed himself back up from the wall. Scar had not bothered to form a stance, this wasn't about skill, this was just about bare knuckle brawling to her.

"And what was that for exactly?" His tone said that he didn't want to fight, but was not afraid to attempt to floor her if she tried that again. Scar narrowed her eyes, angry that he would ask such a stupid question.

"I think you know, you lying piece of shit!" Haru pushed his way into her room, blocking the second punch she threw at him and pulled her into a bear hug from behind, restricting her movement.

"No. I don't know, so tell me." He asked her calmly, his voice barely showing a hint of emotion. Scar struggled against his grasp, but his arm pushed against her fresh wound and she barely reigned in the scream that threatened to escape her lips.

After a drawn out silence Haru sighed and slackened his grip on her, more holding her then restraining.

"Scar, please tell me what's going on. I have no idea." The desperate plea in his voice stopped Scar from attacking him again and instead she felt the tears form in her eyes, threatening to spill if she said anything.

"Whatever it is, we can sort it out and I haven't _done_ anything. I went to go get alcohol, like you wanted to do. Remember?" Scar nodded, still afraid to speak, for fear the tears would fall.

"I wouldn't hurt you, I know I haven't known you very long, but I wouldn't do anything to upset you or make you angry. Please talk to me?" Eventually, through enough deep breaths, she calmed herself enough to attempt to respond.

"Akito sent one of the zodiac over with a message, he knows that I- that I told you about everything. He wants me to meet him tomorrow for 'apt punishment.'" Haru dropped his grip on her and turned her around to face him, a strangely manic look in his eye.

"I wouldn't tell him. You're my friend, you confided in me and for the first time in my life I'm able to hug a girl who isn't a direct family member of mine. I wouldn't spoil this by tattling to Akito." Scar looked into his sincere eyes and felt her resolve falter again.

"I want to believe you. I do, but no one else was there, no one could have known about any of this but you, we were in the middle of a lake." Haru frowned slightly and thought back to the day's events.

"I asked you questions before we got into the lake; you showed me what you could do in the lake. Maybe someone overheard?" Scar narrowed her eyes and stiffened slightly.

"That seems unlikely." Haru looked sheepishly at his feet, the internal struggle to look her in the eye very obvious.

"Well, we were on Sohma land. The lake is a place where the servants go on their breaks. A lot of them have children they take; the chances of you being seen were pretty likely. You wouldn't have had to be heard, considering what you showed me." Scar faltered a little and took half a step back, her hand itching to pinch the bridge of her nose.

"Please tell me you're joking..?" Haru didn't respond and instead sat down on the edge of her bed and patted the space next to him tentatively, like he was scared she wouldn't come near him.

To his surprise, she fell unceremoniously onto the space next to him and sighed.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Haru turned to her, pushing her ivory locks behind her ear as she turned to face him with still watering eyes.

"It didn't occur to me, I didn't know you were gonna share such a big secret." He stood abruptly to grab the plastic bags from the doorway and pulled out a large bottle made of white glass, he quickly drank the rest of the water in Scar's overnight glass and unscrewed the bottle pouring a large amount of the strong smelling spirit into the tumbler.

"Here," He passed her the glass which she took with shaken hands and hastily put to her lips, chugging it heartily. Once empty, she pulled a face and shook her head, attempting to rid her mouth of the foul tasting liquid.

Haru stared, wide eyed, at the impressive way she could take her drink. She used the back of her hand to wipe her lips carelessly and raised her eyebrow at his agape mouth.

"Something wrong, chérie?" Haru closed his eyes and gave a light hum of laughter.

"Nothing, I just don't think I've ever met anyone like you. You're rude, abrasive, flirty and gorgeous. You take your drink like an alcoholic, you're one of a kind, certainly not the prim and proper girl I took you to be the first time I met you. I thought you might have been another Tohru, sweet, shy and unbelievably innocent. The first time I got a proper look into your eyes though, I thought different. You have this dark spark in your eyes, like you've been tortured for thousands of years and you still kept your fight, yet at the same time your calmer then I think even you know. Honestly? You have got to be the biggest oxymoron I have ever met." Scar felt a slight blush creep into her cheeks at his bold and flattering words.

"Calm huh? I think that's the first time I've ever been called that; normally I'm told I'm full of fire. Kinda ironic don't you think?" She let a sheepish grin trace her lips before pouring another drink into the glass and handing it to Haru, taking the bottle to her lips and indulging in a hearty swig.

Haru put the drink to his lips and felt a slight grin creep around his glass. After draining the glass and watching Scar consume more of the bottle he pressed the glass down onto her desk and turned to face her.

"Scar, about tomorrow...do you have any idea what will happen to you if you go to him?" He was deliberately avoiding saying Akito's name but Scar still felt her hand tighten around the bottle and took another swig rather than answer his worried gaze.

"Scar, he will physically hurt you. No amount of back chatting or pleading will stop this and I don't want to see you hurt-" Scar silenced him with a sharp glare before standing (albeit slightly wobbly) and glaring at him.

"I know this. I've seen the lows that pathetic man will sink to, so please don't think me naive. I was taught to be proud and that's what I'll be, I'll go in there with my head held high and I won't make a noise when he beats me. I'll be just as strong as my Grandma was. I owe it to her." As her tone softened towards the end of her speech, so did her stance. Her shoulders slumped and she busied herself with draining the rest of the alcohol, rather than see Haru's pitying gaze.

Haru stood in front of her until she turned to face him. Her eye's tentatively met his and he grinned and ruffled her ivory locks.

"You're brave, but there's no shame in being scared. I would be if I was you, heck I'm scared for you. I don't want you to get hurt, but I don't know what I can do to help-" Scar pushed him back down on the bed and straddled his hips, holding his shoulders down, her eyes narrowed.

"Don't pity me, don't be scared for me and certainly don't underestimate me. I'm tougher then I look, I'm sure I've had worse beatings and if I haven't then he won't kill me when he's finally got his precious bird back. Any damage won't be lasting and lastly, please don't assume I need your help, I never asked for it. I can take care of myself." With those last words she leant down and fished around for the second bottle in Haru's carrier bag.

Still straddling him she unscrewed the lid and raised it to her lips.

"Cheers." She toasted quietly and began to drain the other bottle, the foul tasting alcohol jarring her brain and assaulting her senses. She hated the bitter taste it left in her mouth, but it was needed. She didn't want to feel anymore tonight, the dread of tomorrow looming heavy over her head.


End file.
